


Science Bros Before CEOs

by Diary



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkwardness, Background Character Death, Background Relationships, Bechdel Test Pass, Bisexual Bruce Banner, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexual Tony Stark, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Has Issues, Bruce Banner-centric, Canon Character of Color, Canon Disabled Character, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Deaf Clint Barton, Domestic Fluff, Dubious Ethics, Family, Friends to Lovers, Interspecies Romance, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Late Night Conversations, Minor Betty Ross/Glenn Talbot, Morally Ambiguous Character, Multiple Crossovers, Non-Canonical Character Death, Not Iron Man 3 Compliant, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, POV Bisexual Character, POV Bruce Banner, POV Male Character, POV Nonhuman, Past Bruce Banner/Betty Ross - Freeform, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark Friendship, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Romance, Science Husbands, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Bed, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Thunder and Lightning, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark Still Has Arc Reactor, Weddings, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 12:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 44,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13880952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: AU. Crossover. “This is one area where, instead of saying, ‘I take no sides,’ I’m on yours,” he assures Tony. “But, Tony, put some clothes on.” Complete.





	Science Bros Before CEOs

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any of the fandoms contained within.

Dr Bruce Banner doesn’t know why he puts on a black suit and tie, but he does.

Now that he thinks of it, part of him is curious why there’s even a black suit in his closet. Looking back, he knows it’s been there for about the same amount of time he’s been, but he’s never paid any attention to it. SHIELD gave him some clothes on the helicopter, and afterwards, along with a lab coat, Tony gave him money and insisted he buy some actual clothes of his own along with a cell phone, laptop, and maybe a plant.

After pointing out Tony could just supply him with Stark electronics, he'd bought some clothes, a cactus, and a box of his preferred tea. A black suit hadn’t been among the clothes.

Half of him expects Tony to already know what’s going on, and another part expects Tony to ask numerous questions when he says, “Hey, Tony, I’m going out for the day.”

Tony is busy chasing a miniature robot. “Good for you, big guy. Please, for the love of God, do something I’d do or something I wouldn’t. Just find some gray area and- Stop helping it, Dummy! I swear...”

…

Tony insisted on modifying his glasses.

At the time, he’d been resistant and agreed mainly to get some sleep, but now, he finds himself grateful. There’s a bench several blocks away from the cemetery, and sitting at it, his glasses let him see everything at the funeral with perfect clarity.

Betty isn’t in attendance, and he has so many feelings about this, he doubts he’ll ever fully be able to untangle them.

The flag is given to a man in military dress.

It’s over rather quickly: Uneventful but dignified, sombre, and aside from his daughter and grandchild not being in attendance, everything Ross would have wanted. Everything he felt he deserved, and everything the military agrees he does.

He sits for an hour after everyone leaves, and then, he makes his way over. The headstone is dignified, and the black lettering stands sharp in his vision even after he takes off his glasses: Title, full name, date of birth and death. A quote about serving justice above all for the sake of one’s country.

There’s a pile of nearby dirt, and scooping some into his hand, he tosses a bit near the headstone, and then, moves his hand right-to-left and lets it spill through his fingers across the grave. When the last of it falls, he dusts his hands and walks away.

…

Tony’s in the Avenger’s kitchen eating a gooey chocolate confection when he gets back. “Hey, where’d you go?” Doing something of a double-take, he doesn’t say anything about the suit, but it’s clear he’s even more curious.

He has a strong urge to wrap an arm around Tony, squeeze his hand, or just make some sort of physical contact. He knows Tony wouldn’t react badly, but-

Sitting down, he bumps his arm against Tony’s. “Ross is dead.”

In addition to seeing it, he can practically feel Tony tensing. “Thunderbolt?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh. Well, I hope Fury has something special planned that I absolutely ruin when I call him up to ask why in the hell I wasn’t told. But never mind that. How are you feeling, big guy?”

“I honestly have no idea.” Swiping his finger through the edge of the chocolate, he finds it tastes more delicious than he’d imagined.

“How’s, uh, how’s Dr Ross and her family?”

“They weren’t there. At the funeral. Thanks, by the way, for insisting on modifying my glasses.”

Tony wraps an arm around him, and he acknowledges his own envy at Tony’s ability to so easily and unthinkingly do such things. “So, what happens now?”

“Who can say?” Getting up, he takes off his tie, rolls up his sleeves, and starts going through the cabinets. “I’ll stay an Avenger for as long as you and the others want me. With him gone, I’m not sure how much our government is going to keep wanting me locked up, but it could go either way: More or less.”

He starts to prepare coconut chickpea curry.

Getting up, Tony starts wandering around, and he quickly realises Tony’s setting up rice in the rice steamer.

“You, uh, know, if it’s more, they’re going to have to go through me. And the others, naturally. But I’m more than enough on my own to make them change their tune.”

Looking over, he can’t help but laugh. Tony, barefoot, hair-mussed, his reactor glowing underneath his t-shirt, a small streak of chocolate near his mouth, has proven this time-and-time again, and since the day he's met Tony, he's been a little scared. Hulk vs Tony Stark, there is a chance the latter would win, but Tony Stark vs Bruce Banner, he’d have significantly less chance against the former than he ever did against Ross.

But whether Tony is more interested in the other guy or whether he genuinely appreciates having another genius around, Tony likes him enough he isn’t going to let anyone turn him into a lab experiment.

Pushing aside the niggling thoughts this might be because he’s Tony’s lab experiment, he’ll cross that bridge if he ever finds out it actually exists, he says, “Yeah, I know. Thanks, Tony. Uh, you have something-” He gestures to the area on his own face.

…

A few months after the funeral, Tony slides a bowl of strawberries in front of him. “Coulson called. Thor’s coming to visit.”

Munching on them, he responds, “Good. You throwing a party?”

Tony nods. “Helen’s salivating over Point Break is taking a backseat to her cousin’s new baby, and Rhodey might not make it with how tense things are in Quebec. I’m hoping Romanov can come; she’s on some mission. Cap and Barton are definitely coming, though.”

He debates asking about Steve’s presence. It’d be great if the two could be in the same room without bloody noses or worse happening, but- Steve is being surprisingly- not insensitive but less than empathetic than he’d usually be about Tony’s continuing hatred and pain at his parents’ killer remaining free, if contained, and the last time they met Tony had implied he’d find a way to kill Barnes while the other man was still in cryogenic stasis.

It seems safer to simply ask, “What about Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver?” Peter has exams, he knows, and with Falcon staying in Wakanda right now, likely in part because of Tony’s threat, it’s best not to bring him up.

“They’re not invited.”

“How’s Agent Barton and the others taking that?”

“They agreed with me. The party’s for Thor, and he hasn’t gotten to know them the way they have. That process can start later on.”

It’s a reasonable, not unkind point, and the idea Tony is specifically excluding the twins because of him might be a case of him having a severe case of over-inflated self-worth. After all, along with Tony and Steve’s issues, Colonel Rhodes and Steve still aren’t on particularly friendly terms either, and the former staying in Quebec could be a way to let everyone, including the colonel himself, partake in a polite fiction.

If he is the reason, though-

“Look, Tony, if you really think it’d be better for Thor to start getting to know them under different circumstances and that them being their might cause him to enjoy his party less, good call. But, uh, if it’s actually because of me, go ahead and invite them.”

Tony’s expression is clearly dubious.

“Tony, I’m not going to try to strangle her. And the other guy has never appeared all the other times I’ve been forced-” He winces. “To be in a room with them. And in this case, I’d be choosing to be.”

He should probably start trying to have sympathy, he knows. Whether he likes it or not, it’s looking as if they’re set to stay a part of the Avengers.

The thing is, he did once have some sympathy. Two orphaned kids with a loyalty to their country allowed genetic experimentation to be done on them, never mind expecting kids to give informed consent to such things is ridiculous, only to be misled and betrayed by so many different people. The attack on him and the others was somewhat personal, but if he can understand why they'd hate and mistrust the people close to the person they held responsible for making them orphans.

Knowing all this doesn’t make him any less bitter over what happened, but maybe, eventually, he can get there. If he ever has a chance of it happening, though, he knows he needs to make an effort to be around them when he isn’t required to.

“They’re staying uninvited,” Tony firmly declares. “I’m going to get some apple slices. Honey with yours?”

…

Colonel Rhodes doesn’t come, Agent Romanov does, and Thor lands on his floor of the tower, and once the others are done greeting him, shaking Thor's hand, he clasps his arm. “Hey, Thor. It’s good to see you. Welcome back.”

Grinning broadly, Thor envelopes him in a bear hug. “It’s good to see you, too, Dr Banner!” Letting go, he adds, “You seem much happier, my friend.”

“Yeah, my life’s been going pretty good lately. I bet you’ve had some good adventures, too, huh?”

Not only does Thor have some great stories, he also brought gifts for everyone.

Agent Romanov tries to trip Tony when Tony attempts to drag him off to the labs so they can start analysing their presents, and catching him, he says, “Maybe we should wait until after the party, Tony.”

“I also brought plenty of food for everyone to enjoy and for you and Dr Banner to examine,” Thor cheerfully says. “Though, I assure you, it’s safe to eat without being examined.”

“Oh, God,” Tony moans. “This is delicious. Hey, doc, try some.”

After taking a small bite, he snags a bigger piece of Tony’s once it’s gone.

“You already have-”

“And now, I have more.”

Moving out of easy reach for Tony to retake some, he enjoys it and listens to the others talking.

“Oh, yeah, you’re going to love Peter,” Tony says. “In fact, he’s going to love you. You both have… And he wrote honest-to-God fan mail to all of us, you included. I particularly liked reading Banner’s-”

“Without my consent,” he interjects.

“Hey, with how much he hero-worships me, I was afraid he might be sappily in love with you. I had a duty to protect him from himself if the letters reflected that.”

“Speaking of,” Romanov says, “Dr Banner, I need a favour. Don’t worry, I’ve been trying to subtly nudge one of SHIELD’s mail-ladies into a relationship with one of our admin. assistants for some time. However, she is a big fan of yours, and if you could talk to her about something involving- if you could talk to her, it’d make her year.”

“Oh, Miss Lynnie Nail?” Steve asks.

“Yes, but if you agree, please, address her as Lynette. She’s self-conscious when people she thinks are significantly smarter than her call her Lynnie.”

“Which says a lot about Cap,” Tony quips.

“Actually, um, she had a Captain American figurine she used to sleep with as a kid,” Steve says. “Dr Banner, though, she did a thesis on his theory on- she’s smarter than most of our scientists, and I think you’d enjoy her company, doc.”

…

Tony drags him to a charity ball, and before he can find a private corner to take residence in until Tony needs to be rescued, Agent Romanov is approaching him with a pretty woman obviously failing to extract herself from the hand around her wrist and the other on the small of her back. “Dr Banner, this is Lynette Nail, a co-worker of mine.”

Giving him a deer-in-the-headlights look, Miss Nail bobs her head. “Dr Banner, nice to meet you. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go research the best way to approach spider elimination.”

He stifles a laugh.

“Given how much luck you had with the question of Hulk elimination-”

“I’ve never- Please, don’t take my lunch discussions out of context! It was a question of whether the Hulk has resurrective immortality or-”

“There’s Agent Barton. Dr Banner, please, make sure our Lynnie gets safely put in a cab at the end of the night.”

Then, tossing what he assumes is the other woman’s purse at him, she leaves, and reaching out, he catches Lynnie before she can fall in her attempts to grab Romanov.

“Um,” playing nervously with one of her cornrows, she retakes her purse, “thank you, Dr Banner. Again, pleasure to meet you, very sorry for-”

She almost trips over a table leg.

“So, uh, Agent Romanov told me you have a passion for bioinformatics. Do you follow Tony Stark’s work, too?”

“His work in artificial intelligence has always scared me.” She winces. “But I was- My major used to be organic chemistry, but then, I read a paper on- Um, look, I’m sorry, but I don’t have an easy time holding normal conversations. Black Widow dragged me here under false pretences, and my closest friend at SHIELD is an admin. who I technically share custody of a rat with, and no, we didn’t steal her from one of the labs.”

“Until a few years ago, I was on the run across the ocean. I could usually speak enough of the language of wherever I ended up, but a lot of times, I wasn’t fluent, and even when I was, as a fugitive- You’re in good company, Miss Nail, and I’d understand if you wanted to get that cab right now. But if you’re up to it, I’d like to hear your thoughts on bioinformatics.”

Relaxing ever-so-slightly, she eases closer to him.

…

They find a table, and it doesn’t take long for him to realise Lynnie is utterly brilliant. Aside from Tony, it’s been a long time since he’s had such an interesting discussion.

“Of course, SHIELD’s scientists refuse to even talk to me or Jaime, so, the chances of ever getting it confirmed is slim.”

“Right, because, you and your friend didn’t steal one of their rats.”

Her eyes sparkle, and she brightly informs him, “We actually didn’t. It’s just, we refuse to give her back. Veronique, oh, here’s a picture,” she shows him a picture of a hairless rat, “was either misplaced or escaped, and Jaime found her dying in an ice-chest. We got her healthy, remarkably, she’s yet to show any signs of issues with her kidneys and liver, and now, she’s living with Jaime, but almost every day, she goes over to my baby cousin Mara’s house for a few hours. Mara has three fancy rats.”

She shows him more pictures.

“Why don’t you try to prove it, then? Is your school’s lab space not sufficient?” Tony has been within eyesight almost the entire night, and based on the looks he’s been shooting, he’d happily agree to give access to his labs in exchange for being part of the conversation.

Tensing slightly, she shakes her head. “I’m not a scientist, never will be. Even as a kid, I knew I never would. I like my job, and I don’t know about kids, but amicably co-parenting a rat with a friend- that’s, uh, better than most of the adult members of my family have done. Usually, a bitter divorce is the best outcome.”

Unwittingly, he flashes back to the day his father- Shaking the thought away, he continues, “If I’m overstepping, my apologies, but you’re not going to even try?”

She plays with her purse strap. “I was going to Thimbleton a few years ago, but that didn’t work out. Like I said, I always knew I was never going to do great things, help people, maybe get my name in a few papers, but still, I did try.”

“What happened?”

He almost regrets the question with how dull her eyes go. Throughout the night, he’s discovered they can range from puppy-dog brown to almost obsidian. The latter gives her face a drawn, almost haunted look.

Except, he feels this is a line of inquiry that needs to be pressed.

“One of my professors acted inappropriately. I- You know, Captain Rogers has always been very nice to me. But I’m not like him. I’ve wanted to be, but I could never bring myself to stand up to bullies.” She looks down at her nails. “The one time I tried, well, too little, too late. I was kicked out. Guess it’s payback for all the people I never tried to help.”

Before he can respond, she says, “But anyway, I read your paper on alternatively powered medical equipment, and I was wondering if the issue of...”

…

The ball starts to wind down, and after finishing texting for a cab, Lynnie wraps her hand around his.

If she notices the jolt going through him, she doesn’t give any reaction.

“Thank you, Dr Banner. For talking to me tonight. I know- Agent Romanov scares most of us, and almost everyone worships Captain Rogers. I imagine it’s even harder to say no when you’re actual friends with them. But thank you. I’ve admired your work since middle school, and as great as Jaime is, it’s nice to talk about science with someone who doesn’t look at me like I’m a mad scientist.”

“It was my pleasure. Actually, neither Agent Romanov or Steve had much to do with it. Tony dragged me here,” to bail him out, he just now remembers. “And I planned to find a corner to hide in. But I much prefer this. Thank you for talking to me.”

…

Once Lynnie’s cab has left, he goes back inside to find Tony glaring at an amused-looking Black Widow. Upon seeing him, however, Tony's expression changes. “Oh, you did come back. Will there be a second date with this newest SHIELD agent?”

“Miss Nail isn’t an agent, and tonight wasn’t a date.”

“Maybe you and her should have one.”

“Aside from the fact I think she might be in love with her best friend, who she’s co-parenting a rat with, our respective personalities would make us a bad fit.”

A warmer smile crosses Agent Romanov’s face, and squeezing his arm, she says, “Thank you, Dr Banner, for talking to her.”

…

When they get back to Stark Towers, he starts making a fruit salad.

Tony sits down. “Think I have a chance with-”

“No. Jarvis would terrify her, and along with the other guy, she very carefully but pointedly avoided the topic of Ultron. She once broke her family’s TV because a Star Trek episode involving Data irritated her enough to throw a soda bottle at the screen.”

Tony makes a small sound. “You really did like her if childhood stories came into play.”

“I did, but that’s not why I’m about to ask this: How’d you feel about destroying a professor and forcing some overhauls to Thimbleton University?”

“Oh, I’m most definitely in.” Coming over, Tony snags a peach slice. “It doesn’t even matter why, but what did they do?”

“I’m not exactly sure. We’d need to find out who this professor is and what exactly he, or I suppose, she, did, first.”

“Should be easy enough.”

Chuckling, he looks over. “Thanks, Tony.”

…

Swapping the inside of his mouth, he’s securing the sample when Tony comes in. “Professor Van de Camp. Doesn’t that seem like a comic book supervillain’s moniker?”

“What exactly did he do?”

“He sent unsolicited, unimpressive photos of his lower anatomy to several coeds with horribly offensive messages attached. The thing is, though, where he wasn’t particularly discriminatory in who he targeted, Thimbleton’s response to the victims, while wrong in every case, was worse in the cases of students of colour. White women were often forced to take a leave of absence for psychological reasons, meaning they did have a chance at coming back or getting accepted into other schools. Women like Miss Nail, on the other hand, were deemed guilty of making false accusations and given the choice to forfeit their tuition or scholarships or be faced with criminal charges. It went on their permanent records.”

He groans. “Is there anyway at all to even partially undo that sort of damage?”

“About that. So, uh, I wanted to see how a slightly different idea sounded to you. Now, I’m more than happy to make sure he never goes near another classroom for the rest of his life, and Thimbleton definitely needs to change how they handle scum like him and learn a hard lesson in how not to handle innocent victims, but- I was thinking, maybe, we could let Pepper do all that? Trust me, she could do a better job than we could.”

“Would she want to?”

“Thing is, if she ever finds I did this and didn’t so much as bring her in, she might do horrible things to me.”

Despite remembering what happened the last time similar words were applied, he still finds himself saying, “Let’s try not to let Agents Barton, Romanov, and Steve find out, okay?”

“Not a problem.”

“I can’t wait to see what Miss Potts does.”

…

Whatever IQ and psychological tests say, Pepper Potts is as much of a diabolical genius as Tony is.

Soon after the aforementioned Miss Potts is finished, Agent Romanov visits the lab. “I was wondering if you could meet Lynnie for lunch, Dr Banner. She’s decided to resume her higher education in Nebraska. We have a facility there that’s accepted her and Jaime Green’s transfers. Of course, some of our scientists threw a fit, but Director Fury made it clear they’re just going to need to accept the fact that they’re not getting that rat back and that it’s their own fault for not keeping it secured in the first place.”

“Sure, I’d love to,” he says. “When and where?”

…

Wrapping the tourniquet around his arm, he starts to insert the needle.

The whooshing sound of the doors and Tony saying, “Hey, I was-”, cause him to jump.

“Dammit,” he mutters through the pain.

Coming over, Tony begins helping him withdraw the needle and clean up the mess. “So, this is why you haven’t eaten for over 24 hours.”

He often forgets how much Tony has a tendency to observe him.

“Look- Bruce, if you’re working on a new way to permanently eliminate Hulk, I won’t try to stop you, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask that you tell me what exactly the plan is. Something goes wrong, I want to try to save _you_ , at least.”

“I’ve pretty much accepted I’m never going to be rid of him,” he sighs. “This isn’t about that. I’m trying to find out certain things about- I want to know how the other guy’s existence influences my body.”

“Want some help?”

He’s not sure how to answer.

Tony is going to think this is about an attraction to Lynnie, and it’s really not. For all she’s a beautiful, intelligent woman, she’s also almost unbearably young, and mostly, he can’t wait to read papers bearing her name.

Ross is dead, Betty is happily married to a good man she has a beautiful child with, he’s not a fugitive, and he is capable of being near and interacting with attractive women besides Agent Romanov without tragedy occurring. There are, in fact, such women who know what he is, what he can turn into, and who don’t utterly fear and despise him.

Whether he could safely have sex or not is a question he’s been revisiting as of late. If there’s any residue of the gamma radiation itself, he knows from his experience with Betty it can’t be transferred via saliva. He doesn’t know if this holds true with other bodily fluids or not. Tony’s repeatedly insisted raised heart rate without anger or fear mixed in means the other guy won’t appear, and he’s been wondering if this could possibly be true.

“Alright. I get it. Have all the privacy you need. Just, uh, be careful, Bruce.”

He can hear and see the hurt in Tony’s voice, and whether Tony will stay out of things is a toss-up.

“The science aspect, I could use some help with. Just don’t- Part of this is about whether I could conceivably have a physical relationship with someone, but if I ever do start dating or anything else, it’s not going to be anytime soon. Try to keep your jokes and teasing and encouragements to a minimum, and absolutely no trying to play matchmaker, okay?”

Looking considerably brighter, Tony nods. “Got it. So, what are you trying to figure out first?”

...

Tony bounces into the lab, and the cat he’s examining meows irritably.

“Uh, Bruce, is there-”

“The Thai restaurant I order from all the time? Well, the owner’s granddaughter found Mulan here, and I swear, that’s the name Jenny Sue, the granddaughter in question, chose, and they can’t afford a vet bill.”

Coming over, Tony replies, “No, right, and of course, you volunteered- Uh, she chose the name Mulan?”

“I told her the cat was male, and to quote her, ‘That’s okay, because, Mulan pretended to be a boy.’”

“Infallible logic right there. What exactly are you going to do to Mister Fa Ping here?”

Confused, he looks over.

“Oh, for the love of- Movie night soon. We’re doing all the 90s to early 2000s Disney classics.”

“Okay. He tested negative for rabies, feline AIDS, and all the other potential illness and complications I could think of. I’m going to get him all his shots, and then, neuter him.”

“Hold it. You’re going to take him to an actual vet?”

“I don’t know how easy it to illicitly get one’s hands on animal drugs, but I’m not a veterinary physician.”

“But you’re not going to have them neuter him, too?”

“I can safely sedate and perform surgery without said animal drugs. I have on both humans and animals in the past.”

“And you’re not going to tell the family you took him to a vet, are you?”

“No, and neither are you. Mrs Kasem always gives me extra crab, and Jenny Sue is a good kid.” Putting Mulan back in the carrier, he washes his hands.

“Funny how Mrs Kasem doesn’t seem to like me as much.”

“With how much you used to hit on her daughter, it’s a wonder you aren’t Jenny Sue’s father.”

“I flirted. Some of that time, I was in a committed relationship with Pepper.”

“Is there a reason you came in here?”

“A reason? Oh, yeah. Um, I was thinking. Christmas is coming soon, and I’m going back to Malibu. If you don’t have any plans, you could come. I promise, despite the stupidity of once giving my home address on national television, it’s anonymous and safe.”

“You doing that being stupidity, is that your opinion or Miss Potts’s, Colonel Rhodes’s, and the rest of the world’s?”

“You know, if Captain America had done that-”

“Steve would never do that if he had other people, especially a civilian girlfriend, living with him.”

“Ouch.” Frowning, Tony raises himself to sit on the counter. “Well, regardless, my home is safe and secure, now. I, uh- Pepper and I used to celebrate the holidays when we were together, but before her, I never really- A little when I was kid, Jarvis would have me over at his and Aunt Ana’s house. We’d do Christmas, Hanukkah, all that. But other than that, it was, I’d get presents under the tree every year, and my nanny would take pictures of me opening them.”

“When I got older, unless it was hitting this hot and happening Christmas party, I didn’t bother. I know Natasha and Clint are spending their Christmas with his family, and Rhodey’s going to be with the First Family. I haven’t asked any of the others yet. But, um, do you maybe want to come?”

“Sure,” he answers.

If Tony weren’t here, he’d smack himself. Why he just gave _that_ answer- he’d meant to ask more questions and, most likely, politely decline the invitation.

However, Tony’s eyes are bright and warm, there’s an almost goofy smile on his face, and he just looks so happy when he asks, “Really?”

Nodding, he makes a vague noise before adding, “Thanks, Tony.”

“Good. Now, about Mister Fa Ping here...”

…

Three days before Christmas, he insists on driving to Tony’s house, and Tony insists on coming with him instead of flying ahead. Usually, he'd take the old station wagon he bought after permanently moving to New York, but even with Tony’s modifications, it’s a little slow and can leave something to be desired when it comes to regulating temperatures. Instead, they take one of Tony’s cars.

He’s seen photos and footage of Tony’s house, but up close and personal, he’ll admit it’s impressive and slightly intimidating.

“What do you think?”

Shrugging, he asks,“You designed this yourself?”

“Yeah. Originally a summer project. After it was rebuilt I’ve been making modifications and improvements over the years. Here,” Tony gestures to a hand scanner, “I transferred your biometrics from Avenger’s tower. Let’s make sure it works.”

He places his hand on the scanner, and within seconds, the front door is opening.

Inside, Jarvis greets, “Welcome back, sir. Dr Banner, welcome.”

Giving him a tour of the house, Tony saves his lab for last.

Just as when he first saw the labs in the Stark Tower, he’s unable to keep himself from staring. Tony’s basement lab is probably smaller than any of his others but no less impressive. Whereas most of the Avenger labs have a more medical bent to them (likely because of me, he realises), this makes clear Tony’s love and pure genius for everything mechanical and technological explicit.

“Impressed?”

“That’s obvious,” he responds.

…

He knows he’s not going to get either Tony or Pepper Potts a good present. He doesn’t know her on a personal level, and getting something for a multi-billionaire who has no compunctions with routinely treating himself-

As for them getting him anything, he'd made it clear Tony is to get him only _one_ present and to stop her from getting him any, though, whether Tony will comply or even has the ability to do such a thing-

In Tony’s case, however, he started an email correspondence with Peter, and if Peter’s friend’s hacking is as good as claimed, then, Tony’s main bank account should have restrictions on it. Tony can withdraw however much he wants, and obviously, he can pay his bills, but any purchases going higher than a set limit will be denied.

He’s hoping Tony’s dislike of having to carry physical money around, not wanting to dip in his emergency accounts for non-emergencies, and the extra effort paying for things in cash versus ordering them online will deter Tony from getting him anything too- too something.

He is aware this is going to make it unfairly harder for Tony to buy his loved ones and the other Avengers presents, but he also knows, in their cases, Tony will endure the extra effort. Besides, if Tony would just listen to reasonable requests such as, “Don’t get me anything costing more than fifty dollars,” he wouldn’t feel compelled to do such things.

Something hits his head. “Hey, it’s time for presents, which, by the way, FYI, I know about your leading Peter into delinquency-”

Closing the holographic chart he was studying, he starts to head up to the living room. “Tony, I straight up told you what I was having him do while I was face-chatting with him. He asked you how to set up his very own first bank account, and after making some inappropriate comments about his aunt, you walked him through the process and ended with the warning, if he did this, you might just target his bank account someday.”

“Okay, yeah, but in my defence- I didn’t think you’d actually stoop to doing it. I’m both impressed and unnerved, Banner.”

“Thanks,” he dryly replies.

“Also, you’re wrong. My exact words were, ‘You do this, kid, and rest assured, I’ll be coming for your bank account someday.’”

They get to the living room, and he’s not sure if Miss Potts heard or not, but based on the disapproving look she gives Tony and the polite smile she gives him, they aren’t looking too good in her eyes.

Kissing her cheek, Tony says, “Lighten up, Pep. If I didn’t make Bruce here question his very existence and mentally plot out all the ways he could hypothetically get away with murdering me, he wouldn’t feel near as comfortable. We have a special bond.”

She sighs. “Well, I suppose he has a better chance than I do. The ex-girlfriend is always a suspect. Dr Banner, if you do, could you please find a way to deflect suspicion from me?”

“Of course,” he answers. “I take it when he says, ‘Don’t tell, Miss Potts, she’ll kill me,’ I should-”

“You should definitely tell me,” she declares with a warmer smile. “I’m not afraid of being a suspect, I’d just rather not be one if I didn’t actually do it.”

“I completely understand.”

“If you two are through plotting my murder, these presents aren’t going to open themselves. Well, I say that, but since Dummy insisted on visiting, who knows?”

She hands them each two presents, and he wishes he could be relieved by the normal size and weight of the package bearing Tony’s name as the giver.

Then, he realises they’re both looking at him.

“Uh, why don’t you go first,” he suggests to Miss Potts.

“Tony bought me this lovely dress along with the matching shoes and earrings.” After gesturing to her outfit, she picks up his present.

Sputtering, Tony responds, “Uh, wait, was this before doc here-”

“Tony, I have your pin numbers. I withdrew the money.”

“Why didn’t you just call the kid and have him let you transfer it to your own account?”

Shaking her head, she opens the present. “Oh, these are lovely. Thank you, Dr Banner.”

He expects Tony to make a quip along the lines of, ‘I can see how well the gloves go with your lovely top-of-the-line designer ensemble,’ and is therefore thrown off guard by the look Tony gives him. “Yeah, Bruce must have been listening when I talked about you wanting new gloves. He tends to do that.”

There’s something about both the words and the tone, but before he can try to unpack it, his hand is being squeezed. “Maybe, later, we can all go out, and I can test them. Tony, why don’t you open his first?”

Tony lightly shakes the package. “Let me guess, you also included the receipt?”

“What, you think I’d actually buy you something? Your present is that, come the day after tomorrow, I won’t try to convince Peter to keep an indefinite hold or worse on your account. This, this is just a little something extra. More tangible.”

Catching his eyes, Tony laughs. “I’m upping your threat-level, big guy.”

He tries to keep his smile in place as Tony starts to unwrap the present, but the urge to run is strong. He could survive the cold wilderness, though, probably not without the other guy coming out.

This was a bad idea, he knows, but he tried talking to everyone from Black Widow to even Colonel Rhodes. Aside from gadgets, Tony likes cars, food, and sex. He doesn’t particularly care for clothes or media and books in physical formats.

Of course, he already knew this. Hearing it didn’t help with the problem of Tony has all the materials to build and create things he wants, he has numerous cars, money to buy however many more he could possibly want along with any digital media, and routinely consumes whatever food strikes his fantasy. Back before the other guy, he did set a few friends and co-workers up on blind dates, and they never went bad; in fact, one of the couples is still happily married.

Tony isn’t really the type to be set up on a blind date, and that’s the only thing he could do that might potentially involve sex that isn’t creepy, inappropriate, and completely against his own moral considerations.

“Tony?” Miss Potts’s concerned voice breaks into his anxiety spiral, and he realises Tony just took in a sharp breath.

“Hey, look, Pepper, you’re in it, too,” and Tony looks over with a vulnerability in his eyes he's only ever seen twice.

“Oh,” she says. “Dr Banner, this is incredibly thoughtful.”

After everything he and Peter went through to get this one picture, he doesn’t care if they’re secretly judging him: He’ll take the compliment.

“Peter helped. Did most of the work, actually. I, uh, probably should have put his name on the tag, too, but-”

“Thanks, Bruce.”

Tony hands it over, and he finds himself studying it.

He hadn’t planned it, but when everyone had ended up in Stark Tower due to SHIELD believing Thor’s sister might be heading for Earth, he’d seen an opportunity. Peter had set up a camouflaged drone, and they’d both spent practically the whole day trying to subtly get everyone into one room. Of course, when they had, arguments had almost immediately broken out.

Somehow, the photo shows no trace of this. Romanov and Clint are tangled together on a couch with the twins sitting at their feet, Peter is standing nearby with Pepper and Colonel Rhodes, Tony and Steve were having a civil conversation with the picture capturing the few seconds Steve had his hand on Tony’s shoulder, and he himself was standing near the latter two. He’d moved at Peter’s subtle signal so his face would be visible, and Tony had started to pull him back over; Steve stopping Tony was the reason for the hand on Tony’s shoulder, and luckily, Tony had lowered his own arm at just the right time.

Only a few of them are smiling, but none of them look unhappy or sad.

“Your turn,” Tony announces.

He sets the picture down, and Tony grabs it.

“Who first?”

“Do mine, Dr Banner,” Miss Potts says.

Hers is a set of cufflinks and a tie, and he can tell by looking at them, he should’ve insisted _she_ stay within a fifty dollar or less budget. “Thank you. This is wonderful. But, uh, you-”

“I should have, and I did,” she pleasantly declares. “Now, go ahead and open Tony’s.”

He can't help but sigh when he sees a pristine first-edition hardback copy of Dr Taylor Sawyer’s Treatise on Medical Ethics in Wartime.

“Tony-”

“You thought you could win by giving me something that cost no money? Well, buddy, you still lost, because, see, you put effort and time into your gift.” Smiling slightly, Tony nods towards the book. “Read the inside cover.”

Not sure what he’s going to find -Dr Sawyer has been dead for almost twenty years-, he opens it.

“Your- your dad. Dr Sawyer gave this to him.”

“Yeah, I just had Jarvis tell Happy where to get it from the Stark family safe, and he dropped it off while he was dropping off my Christmas presents. Pepper wrapped it and the others due to the fact, despite her no longer being my assistant or girlfriend, I’m still absolutely not allowed to wrap presents. I was going to have it auctioned off for charity after my death, but- then, you made everything personal, Dr Banner. So, enjoy the boring book I doubt my dad even read halfway through, and if you ever decide you don’t want it anymore, just sell it to a reputable museum. Don’t give it to the Library of Congress. They won’t pay near enough for the privilege, and I think they already have a copy.”

Setting it down, he finds himself hugging Tony.

Part of him knows he should be protesting, but-

A warm, happy sound is followed by the feeling of Tony returning the hug.

Pulling away, he says, “Thank you, Tony.”

“No problem.” Tony grins at him.

…

Despite Dummy having no visible cameras or optic input, he can’t help but feel as if its watching him.

Coming in, Tony orders, “Dummy, stop staring at the big guy. Go guard the snails.”

Chirping, the robot zooms over to the snail habitat, and again, he has the distinct feeling its looking at them.

“I’m going to rein in the new year here. Take whichever car you want when you’re ready to head back, but if you feel like joining me, you’re more than welcome to stay. I’ll probably leave a day or two after New Year’s day.”

“Are you having a party?”

“Pepper’s coming back over, and me and her plan to get drunk.”

“Sounds good. I’ll stay.”

…

Grumbling against the flashing lights, he vaguely hears, “Dr Banner, you must wake up. This involves a Dr Betty Ross-Talbot.”

Sitting up and trying to find his glasses, some irritating part of his brain insists on pounding his head with the thought _getting drunk was a bad idea._ “Betty?”

“Yes, Dr Banner. Butterfingers has brought water; please, drink some while I patch her through.”

A not-Dummy robot pushes a bottle of water under his face.

Managing to get the cap unscrewed, he winces as the cold hits his hot, dry mouth and activates the aftertaste of something terrible.

“Oh, God,” he groans, and he’s muddily aware of dropping the water as he tries to fend off the terrible ringing with his hands over his ears.

“I’m activating speaker mode,” Jarvis informs him.

“Bruce? Hello? Bruce?”

Grabbing the phone, and thankfully, not dropping it, he turns the speaker off and brings it up to his ear. “Betty?”

“Bruce, I’m sorry for- Breana, my daughter is sick, and we can’t figure out what’s wrong. She- she had a seizure an hour ago, and...”

“Wait, an hour ago. Betty, how long has she been sick?”

“A little over a month.”

“And you’re just now calling?” He starts to get out of bed, almost throws up at the movement, and decides against it. “No, never mind. Look, are you still in Cody, Wyoming?”

“Yes. We’re at St. Miriam’s hospital right now.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in about two hours, maybe three. See if you can start work on getting me admittance privileges, and call me _immediately_ if she gets worse.”

“Bruce-”

“Goodbye, Betty. See you soon.”

“Thank you.”

Hanging up, he starts to get up and finds himself facedown on the hard floor. “Probably should have took one of the carpeted rooms,” he mutters. “Okay, up, Banner.”

Managing to get up, he carefully makes his way to Tony’s room, goes inside, and promptly decides he’ll deal with the awkwardness he’s feeling and about to cause by simply ignoring it until Betty’s daughter isn’t having seizures and facing some unknown illness. Moving over to Tony’s side, he starts shaking him. “Tony, get up.”

Both Tony and Pepper Potts quickly come awake and blink at him with fuzzy, disbelieving eyes. “Look, I’m sorry, but now isn’t the time.” Spotting a nearby pair of pants, he shoves them at Tony. “Betty? My ex-fiancée? Her daughter’s sick, and they don’t know what’s wrong. I need to get to Wyoming, Tony, as fast as you can get me there.”

“Betty Ross?” Tony grabs his phone.

Getting out of bed (and thanks be to any non-Asgardian gods out there, she’s wearing one of Tony’s t-shirts), Pepper says, “Here, Dr Banner, let’s go get your medical kit out of the lab. The plane should be here by then.”

…

Pepper manages to not only help him get his medical kit and Christmas present, but somehow, by the time they’re boarding the plane, he’s properly dressed, too.

Making his way over to the lavatory, he slides down to the floor near it, presses his back against the wall, and puts his head between his legs. The other guy isn’t happy, but he seems to understand he (Bruce) is more qualified to handle this than he is.

Now, as long as the plane doesn’t crash or do anything else he’s never trusted planes not to do-

“Here, Tony, sweetheart, drink this,” he hears Pepper saying.

Then, he hears footsteps, a horrible smell fills the air, and she’s softly touching his shoulder. “The taste of this isn’t going to help your emotional state any, Dr Banner, but it should help some with the hangover. Try to drink it, okay?”

Lifting his head, he reluctantly takes the horrid smelling mug. However, after a few sips, he has to admit, it’s doing something. He’d still utterly fail a blood alcohol test, but everything has completely stopped spinning. “Ugh. Uh, th- thank you.”

She gives him a sympathetic smile. “Stark Industries has a nearby location in Casper. I’ve instructed them to send a self-driving car. It’ll pick us up when we land and take us to St. Miriam’s. When you feel up to it, we need to see if we can get Dr Talbot’s daughter’s medical records sent to you and maybe talk more to her and the little girl’s doctors.”

“Breana. That’s her name.”

“Pretty name,” she comments.

“Okay.” Trying not to sigh, he starts working out the kinks in his neck. “Could you go back over to Tony, Miss Potts? I’m going to try to stand, and I’m not sure how that’s going to go.”

Chuckling, she nods. “We’re both right over here.”

…

“You going to be okay, big guy?”

“I’m mostly sober. Are you sure this car isn’t going-”

“It’s not a car, it’s-”

“Dr Banner, I promise you, this is one of, if not the, most safe vehicles on the road. Drink some more water.” She places his water bottle back in his hand.

The minivan pulls into the hospital parking lot, and getting out, he stretches.

Some of the tension eases out at the feeling of Tony’s touch on his upper back. “Ready?”

“Yeah.”

They go inside, and before he can even fully take in the fact Betty is as beautiful as ever, he’s overwhelmed by the feel of her pressed tightly against him.

Gently pushing her away, he tries to ignore the expression on her face. “I promise, I’ll do everything I can to help.” Nodding to the man she was standing with a moment ago, he asks, “Is this your husband?”

“Yes, Glenn Talbot,” the man answers.

He offers his hand. “Bruce Banner.”

They shake hands, and Talbot says, “Thank you for coming, Dr Banner.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“I’m Pepper Potts, and this is Tony Stark,” Pepper says.

“We’re sort of his ride,” Tony adds.

Shooting him a warning look, Pepper continues, “Dr Talbot, I’m sorry about your daughter.”

“Thank you. I appreciate you and Mister Stark getting him here so quickly.”

“Where is she,” he asks. “Has she suffered anymore seizures?”

“No. Dr Urban is with her. This way.” Betty briefly grabs his hand before letting go and taking her husband’s.

“I’ve read her symptoms, but why don’t you and Mr Talbot give me a parents explanation of what she’s been going through?”

“I have a severe dairy allergy, and when she started getting sick after eating, we thought it was that, at first,” Talbot says.

“And then, we were afraid she might be diabetic,” Betty says. “Bree’s never had much of a sweet tooth, but sugar, carbs, and even sugarless gum started to make her even more violently sick. Her insulin levels aren’t the problem. But whatever is- she’s lost too much weight. Her kidneys-” She takes a shaky breath.

He firmly tells himself, _Focus on the case_.

He doesn’t have the right to wrap his arms around Betty, kiss her forehead, and squeeze her hand anymore, and thankfully, her husband does have an arm wrapped around her.

“We’ll see what we can do,” he promises instead.

Inside, introductions are made to Dr Urban, a chart is handed to him, and finding himself looking down at Breana Talbot, his heart breaks. Wearing her grandmother’s necklace, she’s a beautiful little girl with her beauty severely restrained by the sickness making her frail, bony, and splotchy. She looks at them with protruding eyes fuzzily blinking, and he sees, though she takes more after her father, there’s absolutely no doubt she’s Betty’s.

Sitting down, Talbot wraps a gentle hand around his daughter’s. “Hey, darling. We’re hoping this will be over soon.”

Nodding, Betty softly kisses her. “Hi, angel. This is Bruce Banner, baby, the doctor we’ve told you about.”

Breana is more interested in Pepper’s hair. Giving a shaky wave, she asks, “What’s your hair called, miss?”

Coming over, Pepper sits in a nearby chair. “Hi, I’m Pepper Potts. Do you mean the shade? It’s strawberry-blonde.”

“I’m Bree Talbot.” They shake hands, and she continues, “I’m blonde. Can we get more strawberries from Mrs Wexler and add the juice, Mama?”

Half-laughing, Betty answers, “Baby, it doesn’t work like that. Strawberry-blonde has to be dyed with chemicals just like all the others.”

“I’m not allowed to get my hair dyed until I’m sixteen,” Bree tells Pepper.

“About these tests,” he quietly says to Dr Urban, “when you tried...”

As they talk, he notices Tony has joined in, but aside from Bree regarding him with vague disinterest, no one seems to be offended or, in Pepper’s case, lowkey homicidal.

“It’s most likely autoimmune,” he agrees. “Betty?”

Detangling herself from the conversation, she comes over.

“This room, did you and Mr Talbot put her in here at the beginning, or did she have issues in paediatrics?”

“We got her a private room when she was first admitted, but she’s been taken down to peds every day for a few hours, and there’s never been a spike towards the bad afterwards. What are you thinking, Bruce?”

“I’m not sure, yet. Dr Urban, do I have permission to poke around in the hospital’s lab?”

…

He gets into an argument with one of the hospital’s idiot doctors, but they manage to find out what caused the seizure. Unfortunately, what’s wrong with her is still a mystery.

Pepper is asleep in the chair next to Bree’s bed, and Bree is amusing herself by putting different colour scarves over Tony’s reactor and seeing what colour is reflected on the wall.

“Tony? Find a hotel or take Pepper back to your house or her house. And then, get some sleep yourself.”

“She’s fine. And I don’t expect you to notice, having no appreciation for the noble art of fashion design, but I’m in the middle of a fashion show right now.”

“Would someone please close the curtains? The sun hurts my eyes.”

As he does, she informs Tony, “I might get glasses soon. If so, Mama and Daddy said I could have red ones like a fire truck. They’ll probably be more like circles, though, ‘cause I have a face like Daddy’s. There’s a girl in school who has a really circle-y face. If she needed glasses, she’d probably get contacts, but if she got glasses instead, more square ones would look better.”

“Do you not want contacts, or are you not allowed to have them,” Tony asks.

“I had pink eye, and I couldn’t see right until it was gone. The eye drops made it way worse the one time Mama tried to put them in, and I was going to wear contacts for a Halloween party at school that made my eyes purple, but it hurt too much, and my eyes kept crying all day even though I wasn’t crying.”

Betty and Talbot come in with breakfast, and as they try coaxing an increasingly fussy Bree into eating, Pepper wakes up.

“Sweetie, Daddy knows you-”

Crossing her arms, Bree glares at them with her lips pressed tightly together.

“Bree,” Betty says, “we’ve talked about...”

“Gentlemen, why don’t we get some breakfast,” Pepper suggests, and before they can respond, she's dragging Tony by the wrist and, with a soft touch on his own back, firmly guiding him.

Once away from the room, Tony declares, “We aren’t eating hospital food. There has to be a nearby restaurant that’s open.” He yawns. “I’ll take the minivan. What do you two want?”

Pepper takes out her phone, and soon, Tony is headed to get Chinese food for them and to a nearby 24/7 diner for Pepper.

“Let’s get some coffee,” she suggests.

“Make mine tea, and I’m in.”

…

They find a quiet table in the cafeteria, and before he can start organising his notes, she says, “About last night-”

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t know- If it weren’t an emergency, I never would have barged in. But I could have just called or texted or had Jarvis get Tony up.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Dr Banner. Tony and I aren’t together. Back together. Even if we were, neither of us would blame you for being desperate to get to a mother and her sick child, especially given your history with Dr Talbot. But nothing happened. We were just drunk, I didn’t have anything of my own comfortable to sleep in, and I ended up asleep in his bed. That’s all.”

Thinking back on it, now, Tony had been shirtless, but he hadn’t needed the pants shoved at him. He’d been wearing pyjama bottoms.

“I’d just- we’d both appreciate it if this didn’t get out. It’d be a complication in various ways.”

“Miss Potts, aside from the fact I have no desire or reason to tell anyone about the time, good reason or not, I drunkenly barged into Tony Stark’s bedroom at two something in the morning, this isn’t something I’d talk to anyone about. If you and Tony were back together or even if you weren’t but something more than sleeping happened, it should be up to the two of you who all does and doesn’t know.”

Smiling, she says, “Thank you.”

“Thank you for doing all this.”

“One other thing: It’s Pepper.”

“Bruce,” he replies.

…

By the time Tony comes back, Betty and her husband have joined him and Pepper.

“If there’s any extra you’re welcome to it,” Tony tells them. “Hey, big guy, want some more tea while I’m up?”

“Oh, they have coffee here,” Betty yawns. “Do you want some Yuenyeung?”

He isn't sure how to interpret the look Tony gives her, but Tony's tone is relatively mild when he says, “Banner always tries to avoid coffee." 

“It’s a mixture of tea and coffee. Different places have variations of it, but Betty’s always liked the Hong Kong name of Yueyeung,” he explains. “No, thank you. Some tea sounds good.”

“He didn’t always,” Betty adds. “And he used to say I was the only one who could make it properly.”

“You are. Were. Every place overseas I’ve been that had it, I’ve found a way to try it, and there was never an instance where this was a good idea.”

She laughs. Then, kissing her husband, she stands. “Well, I’m curious to see if I still have the touch. Mister Stark, if you want to observe-”

Tony nods.

…

He’d forgotten how good Betty’s Yuenyeung is.

Watching Pepper almost fall head-first into her food, however, he sighs. “Seriously, Tony, Pepper, please, go somewhere with actual beds and get some sleep. I need to run some more tests. I promise I can do that without you two here.”

“That might not be a bad idea,” Pepper says.

“Listen to her, Tony.”

…

At five p.m., Tony reappears. “Kid stabilised for now?”

“I’m not leaving right now.”

“You could come have dinner with me and Pep.”

Startling him, Betty says, “I think that’s a good idea.” Putting a hand on his arm, she adds, “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. Bruce, go eat some proper food, and I’ll do the same, okay?”

“Don’t start,” he says.

“Start what,” Tony asks.

“Look, it’s almost time for Bree’s supper, and you’ve seen what that’ll entail,” she sighs. “Just get some food, Bruce, and we can work on trying to get her better after Glenn and I handle the more immediate problem of getting her to eat.”

Remembering how lunch went, he says, “Yeah, some dinner sounds good.”

Tony gives him a look asking, _That bad?_

He nods.

Bree has her mama’s stubbornness, and she’s starting to develop a strong sense of sarcasm. She’s not particularly an angry person, but she is the type who’d probably respond to the other guy by frowning, kicking at his ankle, and launching into a lecture. On the one hand, people like this often go far in life, but on the other hand- beyond her immediate sickness, God, does he worry about her and her parents, especially Betty.

“I swear, she never had any food issues before this happened,” Betty says.

He wants so badly to pull her into a hug, but- that isn’t the most professional of behaviour. “She’ll be fine again, Betty. From what I’ve seen, she’s plenty resilient.”

Giving him a small smile, she heads back to the room.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.”

He and Tony head out.

“The nearest hotel doesn’t have any suites. I got Pepper the biggest room it does have. When it comes to me and you, do you want to do double, or do you want your own? And I swear, if you mention anything about _cost-”_

“I won’t, but I will be pedantic. You mean twin, don’t you? Two beds. Double is a bed big enough for two adults.”

“I wonder what a twin room with one or more double beds is, then,” Tony muses.

And now, he does, too. This is why he sometimes needs to be careful when talking to Tony. Tony will get him curious about things he never would have considered.

“But yeah. Unless, of course, you want a double, then, just say the word. That option’s on the table, too. Believe it or not, you aren’t the first or last person I’ve non-sexually shared a bed with.”

“What’s for dinner?”

“Pepper’s having room service. I was thinking, it’s a little out of the way, but how would you feel about trying this Cambodian place I found?”

“As long as she doesn’t mind. I don’t want her to think we’re trying to ditch her.”

“Nah, there’s Wi-fi, cable, and,” Tony’s tone takes a teasing note, “plenty of cheap paperback books about vampires at the store down the block.”

He stops.

“If she gets bored- Hey, big guy?” Tony turns around.

“You might have just helped figure out what was wrong.”

Going inside, he’s vaguely aware of Tony following.

“Betty?” She looks over, and he motions for her to come out.

Once the Talbots are in the hallway, he shuts Bree’s door. “Your dad. He told me once about some female relative who couldn’t go out during the daylight, but I don’t remember what exactly he said. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

“Great-aunt Millie? It was undiagnosed during her life, but she had a severe case of porphyria cutanea tarda. Why?”

“I don’t think Bree has that, but she does show signs of photosensitivity. Aside from her eyes, in the peds ward, I noticed she sat in a shady area away from the windows and was showing slight signs of improvement before coming back. In her room, the blinds and curtains keep direct sunlight out, but there’s not as much direct shade during the day.”

“Uh, her tests show signs of hypercalcaemia. Hypervitaminosis D. She’s showing some of the signs, muscle weakness, decreased appetite, constipation, fatigue, increased irritability, before she was given intravenous fluids and anti-nausea medicine, you mentioned she was throwing up all the time and showing signs of dehydration?”

“But- I’ve never given her vitamin D supplements, and neither has Glenn. And I highly doubt she’d-”

“We knew she had sensitive skin,” Talbot interrupts. “Ever since she was a baby, we’ve always tried to make sure she had on sunscreen when going out.”

“If I’m right, I’ve never seen or heard of a case like this, but I think the sun is causing her to naturally overproduce vitamin D. Some chocolates and breads are good sources of calcium, and that was only making the hypercalcaemia worse.”

“Dr Urban!” Waving, Betty jogs away and drags a nearby Dr Urban back over. “We might have a lead on what’s wrong with my daughter.”

“I’m going to get some blackout curtains,” Tony says. “Just to be on the safe side. Even if Dr Banner’s wrong, they can’t hurt anything. Right?”

He nods.

“Honey, why don’t you go home and see if you can find anything about your great-aunt that might help,” Talbot suggests. “I’ll stay with Bree.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” he says. “If we have some idea of how exactly her porphyria cutanea tarda affected her-”

She nods. “If I need to, I’ll call one of Dad’s army buddies.” She kisses her husband. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” Talbot says.

…

At midnight, Pepper appears. “Dr Banner, has Tony been helpful, or am I going to need to do damage control?”

“I got blackout curtains,” Tony protests.

At her look, he interjects, “He was a big help in us finding out what might be wrong with Bree. In addition, your fondness for the vampire romance genre when you were younger was, uh, was also a big help.”

“Basically, kid’s body has issues with sunlight, but not in a way anyone’s ever seen before,” Tony tells her.

“That we know of,” he corrects.

“Once the docs here get her stabilised, she might go the Gothic preteen route.”

“I’ll get her a nice umbrella for when she’s discharged,” Pepper says. “Do you think that pair of sunglasses you got at Carla Gambetti’s party would be good?”

“That’s not necessary,” Betty says. “You’ve both done more than Glenn and I could ever thank you for.” She hands him a cup of Yuenyeung. “I’m just surprised you didn’t get all this information from the General years ago. You know more about his sister-in-law’s grandfather’s MS than even she did.”

“He mentioned it at Major Weinstein’s party. You were wearing that red bikini.”

She laughs. “Oh, yeah, I remember that. Still-”

“No ‘still’ about it. In between trying not to stare and dealing with the fact I was talking to your two-star General father-”

He suddenly realises Glenn Talbot is still standing right here, but thankfully, the other man doesn’t seem angry, offended, or hurt.

“Is that how you two met,” Tony asks, because, of course, he’d ask.

He doesn’t know if Tony is actively trying to up his discomfort level or if Tony considers this a harmless question and is genuinely curious.

“No, we were casually dating then. But Bruce was still in his default mode with me.”

“How so,” Tony asks.

“Tony, stop. We’re here to help Bree, not have you interrogate her mother about my past love life.”

“Maybe I’m-”

“Going to walk the lovely CEO of my company out,” Pepper interjects with a hand on Tony’s arm. “Bruce, call me when you’re ready, and I’ll see about getting you a room.”

“Thank you,” he says.

…

He’s watching the sunrise on the hospital roof when Betty sits down next to him.

“Glenn’s taken Bree home.”

“Good. I was beginning to think she might take the keys and decide to drive herself. But it’s good to see her with so much energy.”

“Thank you, Bruce.”

“Why didn’t you call me at the beginning, Betty? You know I would have come then.”

She lets out a soft sound. “It wasn't ideal, but we didn’t consider it threateningly serious, at first. We thought it was a serious that we knew what was and how to handle.”

“And when it turned out you needed to admit your daughter because something was happening and you had no idea what it might be, you didn’t pick up the phone then. Didn’t email. Or even express mail a letter. It wasn’t until she had a myoclonic seizure. I know you had trouble getting a hold of me last week, sorry for that, but for years, I’ve been living in Stark Tower. This is common knowledge, along with how me and the others can be contacted.”

“Given our past-” She sighs. “I know you would have come. The thing is, I once made a promise that I’d never- but then, that night, when I watched Bree convulsing, I knew that promise wasn’t worth keeping.”

They sit in silence for several minutes.

“Glenn was military, too. First Class Lieutenant.”

“Really? Did he know your dad?”

“No. It was- We had some fun, but I wasn’t going to start anything serious. Then, when I found out I was pregnant, I knew he’d want to be part of his child’s life, and I wasn’t going to deny him that, but there was no way in hell I was marrying someone in the military. Not after everything the general did. And I made this clear to him. When Bree was two, we moved in together, and after she turned four, he was able to get an honourable discharge, and he got a job in his brother’s hardware store. I married him six months later.”

She chuckles. “You can imagine how thrilled the general was about me having a baby out-of-wedlock, but I threatened to file a petition with the courts to have him permanently banned from having any contact with my child until he or she was eighteen, Glenn made it clear he’d file with me, and- I think something in him just broke. He politely made his case for being part of Bree’s life, but aside from birthdays and sending Christmas presents, he didn’t form much of a relationship with her.”

Squeezing her hand, he asks, “Are you happy?”

“Yes.”

“Good. He seems like a decent guy. He obviously loves you and Bree very much.”

“What about you? Anyone special in your life?”

“No.”

“Is there any chance there might be-”

“Betty, I get enough of this from Tony.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He rubs his eyes. “He’s convinced I can- be with someone without issues. I’m not.”

“Is that someone him?”

“No. Tony's straight. He’s also a scientist, and we may end up on opposite sides one day, but I trust him to never use unwilling human test subjects. At least, this way, I’m fully learning about the other guy without risks to others.”

“I might be a little jealous if Hulk you ever tries to fight a storm on his behalf.”

He groans.

Laughing, she squeezes his hand. “Ever since we first properly met, I’ve wanted you to be happy, Bruce.”

“I’m happier than I have been in a long time. It’s not the same as when I was with you, but it’s good. I have a lab, or actually, labs plural, beyond my wildest dreams, I have friends, and things are very stable right now. I’m not afraid all the time.”

“Good.”

“Promise me, if something else happens with your daughter or you or your husband, you’ll call. When it first starts.”

“I will.”

“Thank you.” Glancing down at his watch, he says, “Look, I need to go get Tony and get him back to New York or Malibu before he ends up having the hotel renovated.”

“You sound serious.”

“All those news stories you might have heard over the years? Most of them showcase a toned-down Tony Stark.”

“Well, if you ever end up fighting a storm on his behalf, marry him, Bruce.”

“That was the other guy, and I think he knows now that storms can’t be roared into submission.”

“No. Green and giant or normal-sized man, you’ve always tried to protect and help me when I needed it.”

Wrapping an arm around her, he kisses her cheek. “It’s nice seeing you, again, Betty. Take care of yourself and your little girl.”

She squeezes his hand. “You, too.”

Getting up, he leaves.

…

He’s testing out one of the minivan’s screens when Tony asks, “How’d it feel, seeing her again?”

“Good.”

Tony makes a sceptical noise.

“Of course, it hurt a little. There was regret and sadness mixed in. But I knew when I went on the run, ended up in Asia, I was probably never going to see her again. I’m glad she’s found a good man, has a great kid. She’s happy and safe, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted for her.”

“Yeah, uh, except-” Tony pauses for a long moment. “You’re still waiting on her, buddy. Part of you is, at any rate. She’s married, and you don’t hate the hubby. You’re genuinely happy she had the kid. But you’re still waiting.”

Tony is projecting, but saying so might not be the best idea. “No, I’m not. We’ve both changed significantly since the other guy came into play. Me more than her. Even if she weren’t married and, more importantly, didn’t have a kid, I couldn’t give her the kind of life she’d want. And she couldn’t give me the kind I want.”

Suddenly, Tony’s fingers are waving in front of the screen. “Hey!”

He looks up.

“What kind of life is that?”

Shrugging, he answers, “I’m good with the one I have right now. My point is, we’re different people, not who we were when we fell in love, and we changed apart from one another. Some people, maybe they could fall back in love, but I wouldn’t want to try. Not with her.”

There’s more silence.

“Still, no matter what happened, she never took her dad’s side.”

Tony’s tone sends warning bells through him. They don’t talk about Ross, and if certain things ever absolutely must come up- he’d just really appreciate it if they didn’t on some backroad in a self-driving minivan. He suddenly greatly regrets not insisting Tony fly back with Pepper.

“She tried to make peace between us, at first,” he finds himself saying. “Sometimes, I think, maybe, if I’d been more willing-”

“Ross was never going to see you as anything but a thing to be caged and occasionally set loose to destroy his enemies.”

“Yeah.” Sighing, he wishes he could simply fully hate the dead man the way he had when Ross was still alive.

“He and I never quite hit it off, but I did genuinely respect him at one point. There were things I found likeable about him, and I wanted to prove myself to him. Wanted to impress him and find common ground. He was a genuine hero, I thought. A patriot. He loved Betty more than anything, and he desperately missed his wife even after all those years. He was going to be my father-in-law. I was going to be the father of his grandchildren.”

“I was going to name my first kid after Obie,” Tony blurts out. “If I ever had a kid, and assuming my first kid isn’t some kid I’ve never even known about. Not sure about a girl, obviously, Virginia would be in the name, but probably something involving Obadiah.”

“My point is, different circumstances or not, he was my dad’s best man. He had the second dance with my mom. When I was in boarding school, he’d send me presents. He agreed with my decision to hire Pepper. Looking back now, I see he was encouraging things that weren’t doing any favours for my personal reputation, but- I’d do something crazy, and he’d be half-disappointed and half-fond, all, ‘You’re just like your old man was.’”

Tony lets out a bitter laugh. “And the thing is, even after everything came out, all the horrible, indefensible things he’d done, I still would have tried to help him, but he went after Pepper and just kept trying to kill me. Because, to me, he was family, and to him, I was-”

Objectively, he's always known Stane was worse than Ross, but in this moment, it hits him how much.

“Well, they’re both gone, and we’re still here. In some ways, we’re always going to have to live with what they did, but the important part is, we get to live. Here’s to that, huh?”

“Yeah, here’s to that,” Tony agrees.

The year is still new, and he almost says, ‘Thanks for spending it helping me deal with my ex-fiancée's sick kid,’ along with, ‘Sorry for you spending it that way. It really would have been better if you’d just put me on the plane or in a self-driving car.’

Instead, he says, “Happy New Year, Tony.”

Giving him a soft look, Tony responds, “Happy New Year, big guy.”

…

Tony storms into the lab with something bright and sticky covering him.

“Sir, I warned you not to-”

“You could have warned me-” He pauses. “Was that a disembowelment on the screen?”

Making sure the screen is fully turned away from Tony, he resumes the slide-show. “I’m seeing how exactly my heart rate reacts to different disturbing visual imagery.”

“You know what? Fine.” Tony proceeds to storm to the bathroom.

After a moment of debate, he turns off the heart monitor and screen. “Jarvis, what happened?”

“People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is currently protesting Stark Industries, Dr Banner.”

“What? Why? Stark Industries has never done any sort of animal testing.” A sinking feeling forms in his stomach. Stark Industries hasn’t, but _he_ has, and if this is what has caused-

“A disgruntled employee leaked the fact Sir bought a white leopard from Sheik Qadir Roble. This and the fact Mrs Stark wore fur are their present stated complaints.”

Relieved but still confused, he points out, “He bought Maryam, because, she was being abused. He gave her to a wildlife preserve.”

He knows for a fact she has acres of land with plenty of trees for shade, a lake, a tub that’s always filled with warm water, a heated and air conditioned enclosure she can go into during bad weather, and her own emotional support dog. For all he doesn’t agree with wild animals being kept as pets or snatched out of the wild to be put in zoos and the like, he personally has a great deal of respect for preserves that humanely shelter and care for wild animals like her who literally couldn’t survive out in the wild.

“Technically, Sir is allowing the Australian Wildlife Reservation the pleasure of hosting Miss Maryam. He, however, still holds legal ownership over her.”

Coming out with a towel around his waist, Tony scoffs. “Right, because, I can barely stop Dummy from destroying the lab, but I want a wild animal who could kill me in my sleep or really just whenever hanging around and going to the bathroom all over my very expensive furniture, clothes, and most importantly, lab equipment. Them knowing I could remove her, and thus, call their funding into question at anytime motivates them to take excellent care of her, and if something bad does happen to her, I have more legal recourse as her adoptive human parent than as a philanthropic donor.”

“This is one area where, instead of saying, ‘I take no sides,’ I’m on yours,” he assures Tony. “But, Tony, put some clothes on.”

Tony leaves the lab significantly calmer than he came in.

…

He glances over when Tony comes in. “Again?”

Tony has decided fashion is now one of Stark Industries interests, especially anything involving faux fur and artificial leathers. One of his interns in Asia has already come up with fabric that paint easily slides off when exposed to water with no staining left behind.

Naturally, Tony has recruited the PETA protesters into helping him test said fabric by wearing it when they have paint to throw.

Doing the sensible thing and being sure to not go near them, he has no proof of this, but based on the paint splatter, he has a suspicion Tony is also giving aiming tips to some of them.

“They didn’t seem that happy to hear Maryam’s fur is going to make me millions.”

“I’m assuming you neglected to explain that you’re having pictures of her analysed and, based on said pictures, patterns mimicking her fur are being printed on faux fur? And that she is still alive and well?”

“You sound like Jarvis.” Tony steps into the decontamination shower, and it turns opaque.

When he vaguely hears the sound of Tony singing, he has Jarvis set up the heart monitor to beep if his heart rate gets above a certain rate. “Start the video, Jarvis.”

“Yes, Dr Banner.”

“How’s desensitisation affect the Hulk?”

Jumping slightly, he starts to answer, and then, makes the mistake of glancing over.

“Huh, that one was different from all the others. What-”

Turning the monitors off and carefully not looking over, he tries to breathe through his nose. “From what I-”

“What was the cause?”

“Tony, clothes.”

“Oh, right,” Tony says, and in the corner of his eyes, he sees Tony going over to the bathroom. “Hey, Underroos has a new girlfriend. I was thinking, maybe, we should have them over for his friend’s birthday. That hacker kid whose name I can never remember?”

“You remember Ned’s name. I thought Peter was going out with-”

“No, they broke up two months ago.”

“Yeah, I was the one who told you that. But I thought they were giving it another go.”

He can see Tony shrug. “My first love was- Alright, well, we’ve long established I had a dysfunctional childhood.”

Tony sits down next to him, and chancing a look, he's relieved to see Tony has on a tank-top and pair of pants. It’s not exactly OSHA compliant, but it’s better than having a skin-dampened, hair-mussed, skin-to-the-wind save for a thin towel Tony Stark running around.

He’s about to see if Tony is going to have dinner at the tower or go out when Tony asks, “Was it the reactor?”

“What?”

“That got your heart rate up?”

“No.”

“If it was-”

“Jarvis, resume monitoring and notify us when my heart rate is at its resting rate.”

Once it’s established what his resting rate is, he pulls up pictures and specs of the reactor. “See? You want to pull up your shirt, I’ll look at it, and it’ll be the same.”

“There was a tiny bit of an increase.”

“Yes, there was,” he mildly agrees.

“Fine, I’m dropping it. For now.”

“Good. Are you eating in tonight?”

“If it’s your turn to make a burger for me, yes. Otherwise, I’m going to see if those paint-wielding maniacs-”

“Give me ten minutes, and I’ll start your burger.”

“What are you having?”

“The leftover dumplings with a salad.”

…

In Malibu, he half-watches Tony flying around in one of the suits. He has no idea where Quicksilver might be, but he knows the other man can and will be nearby if his sister’s conversation starts to take a bad turn.

“I wish we could talk without me having to say this: What do you want?”

He wonders if he should feel guilty. “How much do you know about the other guy?”

Scarlet Witch’s wary look only increases.

“It’s not a trick or an attack. I’m not talking about the time he killed innocent people because of you. In general, what do you know about him?”

“Not very much,” she answers.

“From the research Tony and I have done, there’s a chance the key to him lies somewhere in my brain. Do you think we could be right?”

“I honestly have no idea. I’m not a scientist, Dr Banner. I don’t fully understand my own abilities or my brother’s.”

“If you got into my brain and found him, do you think you could possibly win against him? Defeat him for good?”

She sips her drink. “It’s- Whatever the answer, I wouldn’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Aside from the fact it could be very dangerous for me- Because, I don’t know what that might do to you. Because, he’s never hurt me before. I have no doubt, he might hate me as much as you do, but- he hasn’t hurt me yet. And because, my brother and I will always be afraid of Tony Stark. We’re useful to him, to what he wants the Avengers to be, but you and the Hulk both, he loves you. Out of all the others, he loves you the most.”

She frowns. “I’m not sure that was worded correctly. The others, they might love you but not as much as he does.”

“Right, well, enjoy the party.”

Walking away, he’s soon accosted by Agent Romanov. “Dr Banner, be sure to check your spam folder soon. Lynnie’s getting married at the end of next month, and she’s sent out invitations, but for some reason, they keep getting labelled as spam. She wanted to be sure you in particular got yours.”

He smiles. “Really? Jaime Green?”

Nodding, she wryly comments, “Absolutely no one saw this coming.”

“Do you know if Veronique, their rat, is still doing okay?”

“She’s doing great. Still healthy, and when they found a feral rat in their apartment, they turned it into a sibling for her.”

He laughs. “Good. Are you, Agent Barton, and Steve going?”

“Barring any sudden emergency. Steve’s bringing Sam.”

…

“You and Wanda talk about anything interesting earlier?”

“Our détente still stands.” He finishes making his tea. “Hey, I’m going to leave tomorrow morning. Lynnie Nail, the SHIELD employee Pepper took on Thimbleton university in part because of? She’s getting married. I want to get everything prepared early.”

Trying to push aside his uncertainty, he continues, “If you, uh, feel up to a trip to Nebraska, my invitation says I’m welcome to bring a plus-one. It’s casual attire. But if you say yes, please, run your gift by me.”

He’s mostly sure this isn’t weird or inappropriate. People bring friends as their plus-ones all the time; in fact, half the time, when Pepper or Colonel Rhodes are busy, _he’s_ Tony’s plus-one.

However, the last time he attended a wedding, he and Betty attended as a couple.

“Nothing more technological than a toaster, right?”

Thinking of one of the toasters at Stark Tower, he says, “Uh, honestly, I think even that might scare her.”

Chuckling, Tony raises himself to sit on the counter. “So, you really aren’t feeling any regret for what might have been?”

“No?” Rolling his eyes, he says, “Tony, she was practically a kid. I met her twice.”

Tony shrugs. “You can have sex, Bruce. You’re determined to think that there’s some risk, but trust me, short of something extreme along the lines of someone trying to force you or kill you during the act, Hulk isn’t going to come out.”

“Which isn’t even- Trust me, I didn’t want to have sex with her back then.”

“I believe that. I just don’t believe you can really always be so okay with nothing but your hand. I mean after so long, I’m sure it’s great compared to nothing, but-”

He knows better than to respond. Part of their testing involved him and his hand in a sealed, Hulk-resistant room with sensors monitoring him. Ability to masturbate safely had been confirmed and analysis of semen had been implemented.

He’d- tried outside the room a few times, but his anxiety has always stopped him from getting far.

“Even if you never have sex again, you could still have a relationship. Go on dates. Being completely honest: I’m worried about you. Your social life is more-or-less babysitting me during mine. A wedding’s a good step, but when it’s over, what you’re going to do is go back to your lab, work on saving the world with that big, gorgeous brain of yours, and barring an emergency, I’m going to be the only human you talk to until the next party or social event I need a babysitter to.”

“Tony, I talk to the Kasems, interns, the head of the local PETA chapter, and other scientists. Whenever Pepper stops by, she and I usually talk, Peter calls pretty regularly, and when one or more of our SHIELD trio gets hurt, they usually come to me instead of going to SHIELD medical.”

“Fine, but do you jerk off to the thought of any of them?”

“The interns are all literal teenagers. No, wait, one of them is a twenty-year-old kid. Who, uh, still lives with her parents and wears Winnie-the-Pooh band-aids. Jenny Sue is an actual child. Mrs Kasem and her daughter are both married. So is the head of the PETA chapter. Oh, and yeah, your ex-girlfriend. I’d be sarcastic, but just- no.”

“Science Bros before CEOs, huh, big guy?”

He laughs.

“Alright.” Tony slides down. “What did you think about the first time? Not the very first time, but when we started exploring the possibility of you being able to?”

He means to say, ‘Personal, Tony.’

He didn’t think of anything, really. He’d just cleared his mind and let the physical stimulation happen.

Instead, he makes his voice as sarcastic as possible, “I had Jarvis pull up some videos and pictures of you naked and in various other compromising positions.”

And saying this might be a mistake.

He knows such pictures and videos do exist, but he’s never sought them out.

Once, though, he was in some Vietnamese internet café, and somehow, a video of an intoxicated, naked Tony had popped up. He’d only known a little about Stark Industries, and this had been when weapons was their primary focus. His opinion of Tony as a person had been low, but to claim there’d been no arousal flooding through him at the sight of Tony’s body would be a lie.

Tony never needs to know this, and he often wishes it had never happened. If it hadn’t, maybe, when Tony runs around in towels and thin tank-tops and tight-fitting pants, he wouldn’t be remembering how Tony looked and desperately wanting to know how exactly, besides the reactor, Tony’s changed and how he’s stayed the same.

“See, I really hope you’re lying, because, you having the real thing just down the hall but choosing such paltry substitutes?”

“Oh, don’t take offence. I was just being a responsible scientist. Having you actually in the room would have definitely skewed everything from the results to the testing itself.”

Oh, God, shut up, goes through his brain. Did that even make sense? Abort, Banner. For the love of God, abort.

This might be crossing the line from banter into flirting, and he’s not a flirt. His own ex-fiancée could testify to this.

Besides, _things_ tend to happen to people who flirt with Tony Stark. Unless they’re kids or little old ladies, either they end up humiliated, or physicality enters the equation, or both happen. Him being a man, it'd almost certainly be the first.

“So, then, should I take offence to the fact, uh, once the testing was over you didn’t go for the real thing?”

Rinsing out his teacup, he says, “Goodnight, Tony.”

“Noticed that wasn’t an answer.”

“You know what? Let’s just go with, if I know I’m not someone’s type, I’ve always made it a rule not to go for them. A foreign concept for you, I’m sure, with your belief you're everyone's type, but it’s served me well.”

“There are subsects of people I know I'm definitely not their type. I'm curious, though, does that mean I’m your type?”

“The ability you have to-”

A gentle squeeze of his elbow stops him, and suddenly, Tony is right in front of him, inches away, and studying him with unguarded but probing brown eyes.

He has to look away, and twisting himself out of Tony’s grip, he fully turns away.

“You know, the thing is, that day when your heart rate spiked, I was sure it was my reactor. Thought it caught you by surprise or maybe you just had a sudden scientific observation that got you excited. Maybe I was wrong. So, hypothetical, doc, you like someone, that someone is right in front of you, liking you back, and you don’t pursue it. Because of the Hulk? Because of the other person? Because, you aren’t actually attracted to that person, and they’re misreading? Give me a heads up when I start getting warm.”

He’s not angry, but he can feel the other guy beneath his skin, and the other guy is making it clear, if he does what he thinks is best and walks out, the other guy will eventually pay him back for it.

So, taking a deep breath, he turns.

“C’mon, Tony. It’s late. You were drinking earlier. I’d advise you to wait until tomorrow, at least, but if you want to have some adult fun, you can find a pretty woman in no time flat. Isn’t Lieutenant Colonel Davis going to be visiting with Colonel Rhodes soon? If this is about you being worried about me- this isn’t the right way to go about it, but we can just chalk this up to you not always making great decisions when drinking and move on.”

Rolling his eyes, Tony grabs his hands before he can stop him, and suddenly, the fingers on his right hand are wrapped around Tony’s wrist, the fingers on his left are gently against Tony’s temporal pulse, and Tony’s free hand is holding the latter in place.

“It wouldn’t be a great idea to manually drive a car right now, but I’m not drunk. You could tell that on your own, though. I’m also not lying, and I want you to pay close attention to my pulse, because, in between the champagne I had earlier, my bouts of attention-deficiency, and the combination of my lack of brain-to-mouth filter and impulsivity, I couldn’t manipulate my vitals while lying even if I wanted to. I’m guessing you have my baseline, now?”

He might have nodded, but otherwise, he can’t respond. Staying as still as possible and being quiet has always been an ingrained response when neither flight or fight are viable options.

Tony is still studying him so intently, however.

“I don’t know where you get the idea you’re not my type. When we first met, I was with Pepper, and just like you wouldn’t knowingly help someone cheat, I’d never cheat on her. That would have been one of the worst things I ever did. But we’ve been broken up for years. She’ll always be one of the most important people in my life, but I’m not pining over her.”

When he tries to move his hand away from Tony’s throat, Tony tightens his grip.

“Here, I’ll do your other wrist,” he says.

Tony allows it.

“I- uh, it wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve done some experimentation in the past with- but aren’t you straight? And to be clear, this is a question I’d normally never ask for a variety of reasons.”

Most of the Avengers and possibly all of SHIELD know about his bisexuality, and he's aware Ross might have found out before he died. Tony didn’t do anything wrong, but he did play a part in this happening. When everyone was regrouping after the Battle of New York, Tony had been teasing him, he’d been tired, and he’d mentioned something about Betty never caring about his bisexuality and hadn’t cared enough to try to play it off.

Steve hadn’t known what the word ‘bisexuality’ meant, Thor had told them some fascinating tales of non-straight Asgardians, and no one had made a big deal over it or seemed to care.

“No,” Tony answers.

His pulse is steady.

“It’s kind of funny. Obadiah wanted me gone, and he was happy to subtly promote my irresponsible playboy image, which, in fairness, the image did accurately reflect the reality, but that- that was one area he kept covered up. I wonder sometimes, if it was some sort of twisted loyalty or respect or something towards my dad. Kill Howard Stark’s son, sure, let everyone think he was crazy even, but having a queer son, someone just as likely to fall for a man as a woman, well-”

Putting a hand on Tony’s shoulder, he squeezes. He understands the bitterness, and knowing Tony has legitimate reasons for it makes his own heart hurt in his chest.

Slumping down a bit, Tony says, “Pepper found out soon enough. She was ahead of her time, thinking of all the kids out there struggling with themselves and facing danger, and she floated the idea of-” He lets out a small laugh. “She sincerely believed, ‘Sure, there’s a multitude of things wrong with him, but we could show how this isn’t one of them’. Obie convinced her that it was too dangerous, that, maybe someday, after I’d settled down and could soberly reflect on such an issue, then, maybe, but I knew, if he had his way, this part of me would never be public.”

Before he can decide how to respond, Tony continues, “I fell in love when I was eighteen. And I don’t mean I had a crush or really wanted to sleep with someone. I was in love, big guy, and that’s how Obie found out. But this person is straight. If I’d had, if I thought I even had a chance in hell, the whole world would have known what I was years ago. But I didn’t, and I knew I didn’t, and so, it didn’t matter. Just let Obie and the Stark lawyers and PR do whatever they wanted.”

Colonel Rhodes, then.

Now, Tony looks a little wary, clearly realising he just opened himself up to questions he isn’t going to answer, but he doesn’t need to ask to know.

“Straight or not, his loss, Tony. But-” He doesn’t know what to say.

“This isn’t about me worrying about you, and I’m not egocentric enough to think that someone being attracted to men means they’re going to be attracted to me. Don’t get me wrong, when I was younger, I definitely was, but you know, I’ve grown some, evolved, Pepper now has Black Widow on speed dial. My point is, yeah, I could be wrong, but earlier, I think there was a spark. And I’m not afraid of you or the Hulk. Well, a little afraid of you, but that’s a requisite for me falling for someone. I can promise you it has nothing to do with Hulk and a lot to do with the fact you got a kid to hack my bank account, and my ex-girlfriend really likes you.”

Chuckling, he lets go of Tony’s wrists. “You aren’t wrong, but I’m not sure this wouldn’t be a terrible idea. It’s something we’d need to talk about in detail.”

Shrugging, Tony walks over to the fridge and withdraws a jug of milk. “Well, we have the rest of the night. Grab the marshmallows. I’m making some hot chocolate.”

Unable to fully believe this is happening, he says, “I’ll make some more tea.”

…

After they get their drinks made, they sit down at the kitchen table.

“Even if it is safe, I’m, um, after so long, I’m, uh, not sure sex is something I’m still capable of.”

He thinks revisiting the idea of trying to survive in the wild might have some merit. It’s not so cold or hot the other guy would have to appear to keep him from dying.

“There could be things that one or both of us can’t or don’t want to do. But there are other things we can both do. Ideally, finding out these things are something couples and just people having sex should work together to figure out, right?”

“Speaking of couples, um-”

Tony looks at him with simple curiosity. “What would you want out of this? One-time thing, exclusivity, or something in between?”

“It still hasn’t been decided we’re going to do anything,” he points out.

The thought of only having one night with Tony- if something does happen, and Tony doesn’t enjoy it or finds it simply underwhelming, he can accept this, but if it’s good for both of them, he’d want it to happen more than once.

“Maybe sex is a possibility-”

“I’m convinced it is,” Tony says.

“And if it is, I’m sure, in the future, a relationship might be, too, but right now- Tony, I’m not in a good place to be anyone’s boyfriend, to ask anyone to be my boyfriend or girlfriend. And when it came to Betty, all I wanted was her, so, agreeing to monogamy was easy, but I’ve always believed more people would have healthier relationships if there weren’t such strong culture mandates touting it. Humans aren’t a naturally monogamous species.”

Tony nods. “That’s all reasonable. I’m thinking some ground rules would be in order. Please, don’t have sex with anyone else in my house. I’m not worried about Stark Tower’s security being compromised, and I know you wouldn’t do anything on the others’ beds. You can bring whoever you want, whenever you want, there.”

“Right, uh, well, that’s another potentially big issue right there.”

“What, you living at Stark Tower? You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, but nothing’s stopping you from moving out if you ever want. Pepper could find you a house or apartment in no time, but seriously, do everyone a favour and don’t go roomies with Steve or Clint. Whenever one of them isn’t on a mission, the twins are crashing with them, and when they’re both free, the twins play hot potato every other weekend.”

“Being- whether I technically work for you or just-”

Giving him a puzzled look, Tony interjects, “You’re an independent contractor. Part of your money is untaxable reparations from the government, and Stark Industries has occasionally given grant money to you in exchange for work that you and I’ve done together. How can you not know this, and what exactly have you been thinking all these years?”

“At first, I was just happy to have a decent bed and plenty of food on a regular basis.” And he’d had plans to leave after New York was sufficiently rebuilt, but though Tony likely knows this, there’s no need to bring it up. “I remember Pepper giving me papers to sign, and she probably explained all this, but uh, I’m not exactly proud of this, but I didn’t tend to pay much attention to her back then.”

After years of being a fugitive and knowing the other guy was in play, he’d seen no reason not to sign whatever paper was put in front of him nor had he faced any particular moral quandaries with breaking any contracts, terms of service, or other agreements. As such, aside from curiosity, there wasn’t a need to read them, and he’d been so tired and overwhelmed, he simply hadn’t cared enough to be curious.

He’d liked Miss Potts, but she’d used a lot of business terms and legalese. She probably assumed he understood, he sees now, and he knows, if he’d asked, she would have switched to more digestible terms, but- again, it was just easier to sign.

When Stark Tower was rebuilt, Tony had lured him in with a new idea on sterile insect technique, and soon enough, he’d found himself checked out of the hotel he was staying at, sleeping in the suite Tony had designated his, and tinkering in the labs. Whenever he found himself wanting something not in the tower, Jarvis was there to help him figure out the best way to obtain it.

Then, after Tony and Pepper broke up, Tony started more-or-less living in the tower, and he enjoyed being near Tony.

Tony frowns. “You and her need to go over all this so that you know.”

Grabbing Tony’s hand, he says, “Yes. That’s a good idea. But not right now. It can wait a few days.”

He finds himself disarmed by the soft smile that crosses Tony’s face as Tony starts running fingers over his hand. “Well, now that we’ve established you wouldn’t be sleeping with your boss and what my limits are when it comes to us being non-exclusive, any ground rules on your end?”

“There’s a chance people could find out. I understand and accept that. But I think it’d be best if we didn’t tell anyone, especially the other Avengers,” he says.

None of them can physically hurt him, but he’d rather try to keep their judgement of him all about the other guy. The ones he knows know, he believes they’re all okay with his bisexuality as an abstract fact, but how they’d feel if it were less abstract…

“I’m good with that,” Tony says.

“Uh, actually, amending that slightly, I just thought about therapy," he says. "That should be the exception for both of us. If you ever want or need to talk to your therapist about us, feel free. And if I need to, I’ll do the same.”

“Okay.”

He can't help sighing. “This was your idea, Tony. If you end up regretting it, remember that.”

There’s a brief flittering of something through Tony’s eyes, but then, standing up and coming over, Tony has a slightly cocky smile. “For good and bad, I’ve never been the type to let the fact I might regret something stop me. And let’s not pretend this is something I decided on a whim. I bet you’ve wanted me for about as long as I’ve wanted you.”

Tony would lose such a bet, he knows.

He stands up, and he hasn’t felt this scared for himself in a long time.

There’s clear desire in Tony’s eyes, undeniable but hard to believe, and- it’s not a challenge, but the look makes it clear Tony isn’t going to touch him first.

Irrationally, the thought Betty might yell at him if she ever found out he made apologies and excuses and hid in the guestroom until morning comes.

Taking a breath, he touches Tony’s hand.

Tony moves forward, or maybe he does, and part of him had forgotten how pleasurable kissing can be.

When they break apart, Tony grins, and resting his palm over his chest, notes, “Your heart is racing faster than it ever did during your tests, but there’s no trace of green.”

Laughing, he pulls Tony back over.

…

He hasn’t felt so peaceful in a long time.

Pleasure and happiness are steady inside him, and he’s tempted to say, ‘Thank you.’

Neither of them are the pinnacle of youth anymore, however, and he’s worn out, and next to him, blinking sleepily, Tony’s breathing is evening out.

Sitting up, his feet have just touched the floor when he’s startled by Tony’s hand wrapped around his arm. “Where are you going,” is the low, almost rumbling inquiry.

Confusion and embarrassment flood him, and he doesn’t know how to deal with either. They’ve cleaned up, changed back into sleeping clothes, and he supposes he just assumed-

Tugging, Tony says, “I want you,” there’s a yawn, “sleep here. With me.”

He’s pulled back down, and his arms adjust to wrapping around Tony on their own accord. The reactor glows, and turning his head enough so it’s not right in his eyes, he finds himself dozing on-and-off.

When he was on the run, he occasionally found himself non-sexually sharing sleeping spaces with others, but lying in a comfortable bed with someone he’s had sex with, with someone it might be accurate to say he’s in a relationship with, it’s been literal decades. As nice as it is, he’s not used to it. Tony is warm, solid, and a mixture of muscle mass and soft skin, and he can hear Tony’s soft breathing.

At the tower and his guestroom here, he listens to nature sounds and, sometimes, certain podcasts. A little bit of light and background noise is comforting.

After he moved out of his hotel room, he’d put a comforter and pillows in the closet and slept in there. For all small spaces make him uneasy, on the run, he often found they were the safest place to seek when he needed sleep. Jarvis had brought up the subject, though, thankfully, not when anyone else was around, and he’d made it clear the only thing Jarvis could do was not tell anyone, especially Tony.

If Tony does know, he’s done an amazing job of never even hinting at it.

Eventually, he started sleeping on the bed and kept his laptop on.

Here, the guestroom has a large window, and with no nearby pollution, the stars are often bright.

Now, there’s light from the reactor and Tony’s breathing, but-

“Dr Banner, would you like for me to play your version 2 sound-mix?”

He jumps slightly, and mumbling, Tony moves a bit at the motion but stays asleep.

Jarvis- he can never decide if Jarvis truly has sentience or not. If the AI does, he’s not the threat Ultron was, but it does make his very existence one of extreme awkwardness during times like this.

Still, even if he does, he’s undoubtedly witnessed plenty of sex in this house and possibly in Stark Tower and other Stark-owned buildings.

Making sure to keep his voice quiet, he asks, “Would that bother him?”

“No. Sir is able to sleep through almost any sort of noise at any volume.”

“Yeah, that’d be good. Thanks.”

Listening to the sounds of light rain, Malaysian honeyguides, and pages turning, he focuses on the warmth of the covers and Tony’s body heat and the smell of Tony, and soon, he’s asleep.

…

“Dr Banner! Thank you for coming!”

He suddenly has his arms full of the event’s beautiful bride.

Hugging her back, he says, “Thank you for inviting me.” When she breaks the hug, he kisses her cheek. “You look beautiful. I read your latest proposal on how cultural dependency on antibiotics could potentially be reduced. Very impressive.”

She beams. “I’m, um, not sure you didn’t have something to do with me resuming my education, but all the SHIELD Avengers are claiming ignorance.”

Before he can figure out how to respond, he feels Tony’s hand on his back, and Tony’s handing him a glass of soft cider.

“Mister Stark,” Lynnie greets, and based on the look on her face, the answer to the question of whether his RSVP came through or not is, ‘No.’

“Ms Nail. I’m Dr Banner’s plus-one. Don’t worry, your gift is a china set, approved of by the big guy here.”

Relief is evident in her body language. “Thank you, Mister Stark. Oh, and thank you for having those faux leopard jackets marked down so much. My baby cousin absolutely loves hers. At the rate she’s growing, she’s going to need a new one next winter, but Jaime and I are already saving up.”

“Huh. How old is your cousin?”

“She just turned twelve. Oh, I have pictures.” She digs her phone out of her skirt.

Looking through them, Tony asks, “And what’s her name?”

…

After he's eaten more than he should and the celebration is starting to wind down, he says, “Based on traffic reports, it’d be better to leave in the morning.”

“I’ll get a room for the night,” Tony says. “Twin or double?” Then, before he can answer, Tony continues, “I’ve noticed for all your lingustic fussiness, you still can’t tell me what a twin room with one or more double beds is.”

“Hey, Bruce. Tony.” Steve sits down. “Nat, Clint, and I are going to rent a room at the Greenville hotel, but first, we’re going to do some sight-seeing. Care to join us?”

“Thank you, but I’m beat. It’s going to be an early night for me,” he says.

“There’s a Hilton here. I could get a suite,” Tony says. “Or several, technically. I don’t mind sharing with the big guy here, but sleeping so close to two soldiers and an assassin-turned-spy isn’t exactly on my bucket list.”

He knows he should be worried about the fact Tony seems determined to essentially ignore the fact the other guy is more dangerous than the three of them combined, but the truth is, he doesn’t want to end up in a room alone or in one with Steve and/or Clint. “I think we’d just bore them. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that new theoretical element Dr Spritz has been blogging about, but a wedding didn’t seem like the best time.”

Grinning at him, Tony says, “I still think Spritzy has a chance.”

“And I’m just hoping, if his idiocy gets anyone killed-”

“Right,” Steve says. “Thank you for the offer, but Greenville is good.”

…

“Told you sharing a shower was a good idea.”

Laughing, he pulls on his shirt. “Tony, we wasted more water than if we’d showered separately.”

“Hey, we’ve already half-way solved the issue of global warming. That more than makes up for some miniscule water wastage.”

Putting on his glasses and getting into bed, he kisses Tony before grabbing Dr Sawyer’s book.

Shifting, Tony grabs his tablet, adjusts it, and then, starts tracing his arm. “So, uh, without going into the details, I’ve obtained samples of the smallpox virus.”

“And you’re having or have already had a robot deliver it and plan to do a full decontamination of said robot before letting it go near humans, right?”

“Jarvis personally oversaw its safe transfer to my house’s lab. Everything tangible used in the transfer has been thoroughly decontaminated, scanned, and decontaminated again.”

“Your house in Malibu? Tony.” Groaning, he sets his books aside. “Well, that answers the question of it being delivered to Stark Tower. But your house?”

“Trust me, no intern is going to accidentally stumble into my house, let alone my lab. Even in secure, middle-of-nowhere Stark facilities, there’s always a chance of someone managing to find themselves in unauthorised areas.”

He can’t argue. Tony’s house has the Iron Man suits, literal force-fields, various sensors and cameras, and other non-lethal but effective weaponry protecting it, and in the event of Tony needing to quarantine himself, there’s enough medicines, stored water, canned and other non-perishable foods in addition to several gardens the robots maintain to last him for a significant period of time.

“I also had cowpox and the vaccinia virus delivered. Senator Casey Feldman is pushing hard for a reintroduction of smallpox vaccines in the general public. I want to know what would be the safest and most effective way to do that if she gets her way. Which, for all I know, VV was and still is, but if there’s a better way, I want to find it. Anyway, I was wondering, if instead of going straight back to Stark Tower, maybe, you could stay in my lab for a while. I could really use an MD on this.”

“Really? I’d love that.” Excitement swells inside him, and he kisses Tony.

“Yeah?” Tony holds his eyes.

He has to fight the urge to look away. When Tony poked him with an electric prod and was checking him for signs of green, he took in the expressive brown eyes, but aside from the vague filing of _nice eyes_ , he had no way of knowing it’d grow so strongly from mostly objective aesthetic appreciation to feeling his stomach and heart react, to wanting to both be as physically close as possible to Tony and to head back to some forest in some third world country. The last time he felt so many things when looking into someone else’s eyes was with Betty, and- he needs to redirect his thoughts and feelings right now.

“Yeah,” he responds.

…

In Malibu, they meet Romanov in Pepper’s building.

“I had the smallpox vaccine when I was a kid.”

Romanov shrugs. “That means you shouldn’t have much, if any, reaction to it this time. Neither the government or SHIELD is happy about this, but for the moment, SHIELD is in Tony’s corner. That doesn’t mean we’re going to take any risks deemed unnecessary.”

Giving him a slight smile, she nods towards the syringe. “Come on, doctor. Jarvis has confirmed it contains nothing but VACV, and you can inject it yourself.”

“Why couldn’t I have-”

She turns to Tony. “I had orders to strap you down if you’d tried to inject yourself.”

Raising an eyebrow at him, Tony comments, “Aren’t you popular?”

“You mentioning that you were possibly going to ask Dr Banner to join you was one of the tipping points. Even then, Director Fury was hesitant, but Steve bet him that Dr Banner would say yes. Whatever you did to convince him, good for you.”

Tony’s expression makes it clear he didn’t realise any of this.

“I didn’t need any convincing. This is something I’m very excited to be part of.” He starts to pick up the syringe.

Coming in, Pepper says, “Sorry I’m late. Bruce, wait. Natasha, I’m sorry, but Dr Banner needs to sign some things. Or no, he and I need to have a discussion, of which there will be a quiz afterwards, and then, he can make an informed decision on whether to sign or not.”

“Really." He looks over at Tony.

“Yes,” is her firm response.

“That’s fine,” Romanov says. “Tony, let’s give them some privacy.” Putting a hand on Pepper’s shoulder, she continues, “I just need to see that the smallpox vaccine is actually injected into Dr Banner. Call me when it’s time.”

“Will do.”

“Why is Bruce- Why am I deemed more trustworthy when he’s around?”

“You’re not,” Romanov answers. “Hulk aside, Dr Banner’s intelligence and yours is on par with one another’s, and he’s proven to be a tactful person and responsible scientist. We want someone like him on such a project so that, one, if you screw something up, he has a chance of minimising the damage, and two, hopefully, he won’t be hurt in the process.”

He feels as if he should interject, but suddenly, she and Tony are out the door, and he’s alone in the room with Tony’s ex-girlfriend.

He’d kept telling himself this would be fine. Anyone who wants to can see what Tony looks like naked, and Tony’s had more sexual partners of both genders than he will ever have.

Except, Pepper knows Tony on a level far deeper than both sex and friendship combined. Tony was, and might still be, in love with her, and from everything he saw, he feels safe in guessing she returned those feelings. For all he knows, she’s still in love.

They both know Tony more intimately than most people ever will, but she knows him more than he probably ever will, and it’s not jealousy that’s the strongest. He knows all this, she doesn’t, and he wouldn’t know how to act and feel if she did, but it’d probably be fairer on all their parts, hers especially.

“Don’t look so nervous. I promise, I’m not going to have you sign your soul a way. In fact, this conversation is to ensure you know exactly what you’re signing.”

“Is there really going to be a quiz?”

“Yes.”

“Tony’s a traitor.”

Chuckling, she pulls a chair over. “He worries about you, Bruce. Thor, even with everything that happened to his family and Asgard being destroyed and the survivors being relocated, Thor still has a home to go back to. He has people. Natasha and Steve both have Agent Barton, and he has them. Peter has his aunt and civilian friends. Whatever you think of them, Wanda and Pietro have each other and our SHIELD Avengers.”

“But you, you’ve always given the impression of being ready to run. Disappear. I think you know Tony well enough to know he’d never be happy that Bree was suffering, but that was the first time you ever came to him about something truly personal that you needed help with.”

“I’m the tactful, responsible one. I avoid drama when possible.”

“Right, well, let’s get the paperwork sorted so that you can sequester yourself in a house containing one of the most deadly viruses known to humanity with one of the most well-documented dramatic men on the planet.”

He laughs. “When you say it like that, even without the other guy in play, my claim isn’t holding up too good.”

“I’m an intelligent businesswoman with a steady head on my shoulders, impeccable manners, and a decent poker face, but when Tony comes into the equation, such claims hold up about as well as yours does.” Setting her tablet in his lap, she says, “Now, I can get the original signed papers if I need to. When you first signed this on...”

…

Sleeping next to Tony becomes easy, but occasionally, he has nightmares.

It turns out, for all Tony can sleep through ambient noises and podcasts, Tony has a tendency to wake up whenever he's out of bed for more than thirty or so minutes.

Tonight, this probably won’t be a problem due to the fact it seems neither of them are going to be able to fall asleep.

“Heading back tomorrow. Be there by Monday,” Tony comments.

“Hm.” He nods.

“I’m going to level with you: I’m not sure how this is going to play out. I don’t want things to end, and,” he rubs his nose against his head and strokes up-and-down his chest, “I’ve gotten used to sleeping next to you, big guy.”

“Things don’t need to end. And when you stay at the tower, you can either sleep in my room or I can sleep in yours. Unless someone barges in, everyone will likely just assume we were working late and one or both of us ended up crashing on a couch or the floor.”

“Yeah,” Tony softly says. “Hey, you know, this might net you the Nobel Peace Prize.”

“I hope to God you mean the new vaccine, not sleeping with you. In which case, we were both responsible, and you will be the one publicly accepting any rewards and attending any events honouring us.” Rolling onto his side, he kisses Tony. “You know, the night after Ned’s party, when we were talking, I knew, if we did have sex, I’d want it to be more than a one-time thing.”

“I wish you’d explicitly said that then. Sometimes, I have no idea where your head is, Bruce.”

“Well, right now, it’s here with you.”

“In that case,” Tony’s hand starts to trail down, “I’ve been thinking about something new we could try.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

…

They get to Stark Tower early Monday morning, and he sends Tony to go get Mulan so he can do a quick check-up before work.

“Welcome back to Stark Tower, Dr Banner.”

“Hey, Jarvis. Has Tony authorised access to his suite for me?”

“Yes, Dr Banner. You have full access.”

“Thanks.”

Taking Dr Sawyer’s book, he sets it on the left side of the bed and is about to leave when a package sitting on the living room’s dining table catches his eye.

Usually, he’d ignore it, but a discomforting feeling going further than a simple desire not to invade Tony’s privacy is inexplicably gnawing at him.

“Jarvis, what can you tell me about this package?”

“I’m sorry, Dr Banner, but could you be more specific?”

“Who delivered it and when?”

“A courier delivered it to reception yesterday afternoon at 3:23. You, not you, Dr Banner, but Mister Stark’s robot, You, brought it up here.”

“Was it scanned?”

“Yes, Dr Banner. There’s no signs of explosives, biological toxins, or infectious agents.”

“What’s inside it?”

“I’m not at liberty to say, Dr Banner.”

It’s just a simple looking package with nothing to suggest it isn’t completely harmless, but- “Okay. Jarvis. Authorisation: Banner. Initiate bomb containment and disposal protocols. I don’t know that there is a bomb, but this is not to be treated as a drill. Get every human out of here, alert the authorities, and then, if there’s time, get all animals and Tony’s robots out.”

Alarms fill the air, lights flash, and he sees all nearby screens suddenly displaying instructions as a non-Jarvis voice announces, “Suspected bomb detected. Mandatory evacuation is required. This is not a drill. Suspected bomb detected. Mandatory evacuation...”

“I’ve alerted all the appropriate authorities, Dr Banner.”

“Good.” He gets in the elevator. “Is Agent Barton or Kelsa Marie in the building?”

He knows, even if Barton has his hearing aids out, the flashing lights and warnings displayed on various screens will alert him to the danger, but one of the interns, Kelsa Marie, has severe cerebral palsy.

“Agent Barton hasn’t been near the building in over a week, and Miss Pines has just been escorted out by Miss Lewis and Miss O'Neil.”

Relief floods through him. “Good.”

Then, he remembers his book. Cursing, he tries to send the elevator back up, and then, realises why he can’t. “Jarvis, I need to go back up to Tony’s suite. I forgot my book.”

“That isn’t possible, Dr Banner. I will try to protect the book, but protocol-”

“Override-”

“Dr Banner, even a Stark couldn’t override this.”

He knows he’s being irrational. If there is a bomb, what’s he going to do, get blown up over a book he can always get another copy of? Even if he couldn’t get another copy, he’s never believed he’d be the type to die over printed words. Besides, there’s a high chance he wouldn’t be blown up so much as the other guy would appear and only add to the damage.

These thoughts vanish when the doors open, and standing in the lobby with one of the Iron Suits on and currently being forcibly restrained by Steve is Tony.

“Tony!”

Getting over, he sees Tony starting to raise his arm, and he knows Tony is about to touch his cheek and kiss him. Automatically catching Tony’s hand, he lowers the arm. “I’m fine. Let’s get out of here.”

A thought occurs to him, but he keeps it to himself, and as they walk, he adds, “Of course, as much as I hope there isn’t a bomb, if there’s not, we’ll see how fine I stay. There was a package in your suite, and Jarvis said it checked out, but- I don’t know. Something didn’t seem right.”

“Always better safe than sorry in instances like this,” Steve offers.

“Yeah, definitely,” Tony says. “Did you touch it?”

“No. I didn’t get near it.” He steels himself. “I hate to ask, but is Mulan in there?”

Tony’s response is some impressive cursing.

They get behind the police barrier.

“It’s fine.” He squeezes Tony’s shoulder. “I hope he’s okay, but a cat isn’t worth human lives.”

“I don’t know much about Chinese names, but isn’t ‘Mulan’ exclusively female?”

“A little kid named him.”

“I’m making a Disney movie night mandatory,” Tony grumbles. “Aside from Peter and Rhodey, you all are embarrassments to me. And with the possible exception of Barton and Romanov.”

“Is that Mulan?”

He and Tony look, and more relief floods through him. Carrying Mulan by the scruff of his neck, Dummy is leading the other robots out. One of them is carrying the snail habitat, some of the others are transporting the aquariums out, and above them, Tony’s other suits are flying out of a window. One of the interns gently redirects a robot that’s spotted or detected them and is trying to come over.

“Okay, good,” Steve says. “Look, why don’t you two-”

They jump.

“What in the hell is attacking our tower now,” Tony demands.

He tries not to roll his eyes and sigh. “‘Who’, and the answer is Stark emergency force fields can stop Quicksilver. Wonder if his sister will fare any better.”

They watch as a shaky Pietro comes into view and manages to lower Wanda to the ground before collapsing.

“Well, at least, we got some comforting news out of all of this. Or I did. Tony, your phone, please.”

Slipping past the barricade and leaving Steve to short it out, he turns on the penlight setting of the phone and kneels down next to Pietro. “Look straight ahead. How are you feeling?”

Pietro’s pulse is angry under his fingertips. “The robots and computers might miss some. I could make sure for sure that there are no humans inside.”

“You want to hash this out with Tony and the others later, be my guest, but right now, focus on answering my questions so that I can move onto your sister. Physically, how are you feeling?”

“I taste mushrooms.”

“That’s normal. What else?”

Scoffing, Pietro looks at his face. “You’d be happy if we died.”

“Honestly, that’d really complicate my already frustratingly complicated day.”

Pietro starts crawling over to his sister.

Holding Wanda up against him, Steve gently shakes her. “Hey, doc’s here.”

“He hates us,” she mumbles.

“But as I explained to your brother, you and him facing serious medical complications would only make my already bad day much worse. How many fingers?”

She blinks. “Two, but they keep moving.”

“Good.”

“There could be people still in there,” she says.

“There’s not,” Steve assures them. “SHIELD’s been scanning the building, and there are no-”

“Captain Rogers, Mister Stark, Dr Banner?” A SHIELD agent shows his credentials. “We’re trying to quietly do medical check-ups on everyone in the area. If there’s a biological threat contained within-”

“And the day just gets better.”

“Here, want some help up, big guy?”

He takes Tony’s offered hand.

“I’ll call the Kasems. Steve, you want to get Pietro, and I’ll get this one?”

Steve slings Pietro over his shoulder, Tony picks up Wanda, and he follows them and the agent into a nearby medi-van.

Once the twins are set down, Steve says, “Tony, Bruce, I think you two should-”

Director Fury comes in. “Good job, Dr Banner. It wasn’t a bomb, but it was a new bioweapon, now safely contained. Before any of you ask, no, we have no idea who sent it. Our scientists are still working on how it managed to bypass all Stark sensors, but if the package had been opened, it would have infected the whole building in a matter of minutes. They’re also working on what exactly and how severe the symptoms would have been.”

Rubbing at his temples, he focuses on his breathing. “How did I know there was something wrong with the package?”

Best case scenario: He gets to eventually sit down somewhere away from everyone but Tony, drink some tea, and work out what’s going to happen next. Tony isn’t being defensively snappy right now, but it won’t surprise him if it happens soon based on Tony’s body language and the way he’s looking at everyone, including him.

In this best case scenario, he may still have to deal with Tony directing whatever negative emotions Tony is experiencing at him.

Worse case scenario: He knew there was a dangerous object in Tony’s suite that even Tony’s computers didn’t detect. He’s been the first person in Tony’s suite in months, and he was alone in it this morning.

No investigator could be blamed for finding all this suspicious.

“We think it’s due to your heightened olfactory sense, Dr Banner," Fury answers. "The weapon does have a very faint odour that most humans wouldn’t pick up on. Our sniffer dogs reacted straight away.”

“Someone will be in, in a few minutes to check on you two,” Steve tells the twins. “Bruce, Tony, why don’t you two go take a walk, maybe get something to eat, figure out sleeping arrangements for the night? I’m sure your debate on whether it’s a double or twin room will be as interesting-”

“It’s not a debate. Doc here is just never going to let me forget the time I tried to be nice and offered to do twinsies with him while misapplying the term ‘double’.”

Despite himself, he laughs. “Yeah, let’s get you some food, Tony. And for the record, I’ve always been very grateful and have never brought that up. You’re the one who’s determined to find out what a twin with one or more double beds is.”

“Most hotels would label it as a double room with two double or queen-sized beds,” Fury says.

Both he and Tony stare.

“Thank you for settling that for them, sir. Could I talk to you in private?”

Steve and the director leave, and he and Tony start to leave, too, when he jumps at the feeling of his hand being grabbed.

“For all your hatred of us, you still saved our lives,” Wanda says.

“He saved my life,” Pietro corrects. “If the worst had happened, you would have found a way to go on.”

“That was Tony. He found the quinjet, brought it down, got the other guy to let me come back, and then, begged me to help you. You would have been better off if he’d gotten you help immediately instead of having you put in cryo, taking nearly a week to find the other guy, half a day to get me back, and then, another full day convincing me, an angry person, unlicensed in medicine, who still thinks the world would be better off without both of you.”

Oh, I’m not a good person, goes through his head.

This isn’t the first time he’s had such a thought, but it’s just as brutal and sobering as it always is.

For Tony’s part, he simply looks irritable rather than appalled, disgusted, and/or angry.

“I thought you were re-licensed in medicine once Natasha brought you back to the States,” Pietro says.

“Technically, shortly after the Battle of New York, I was able to get my license renewed, but that’s your takeaway?”

Shrugging, Pietro carefully sits up. “You hate us, doctor, and always will. It’s something we’ve always known.” He looks at Tony. “If you’re not going to let us check the building, can we have snacks here? Wanda wants her milk and honey cucumbers.”

Wanda nods. “Yes, and Pietro needs some sugar. It’ll help him.”

His headache increases.

A doctor comes in, and he and Tony are directed to a different room.

…

After they’ve been examined and a cranky Mulan has been brought to them, a man with a clipboard comes in.

“Mister Stark, you’re free to take the evacuated robots with you, but we can’t allow anyone back into the tower just yet. Is there anything you want brought out? We’ll need to check it thoroughly before we can release it, but that shouldn’t take too long.”

He speaks up. “On his bed, I left a book. Dr Taylor Sawyer’s Treatise on Medical Ethics in Wartime. Inside the cover, there’s a dedication to Howard Stark, but it’s mine.” Gesturing to Tony, he says, “Christmas present. I’d like it back as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, and there’s a framed picture on my nightstand containing most of the Avengers,” Tony says. “Who are you, by the way?”

“Oh, sorry, sir. I’m...”

…

Steve comes in. “You two are still here. And Tony, I see you’re making friends as always.”

Waving the comment away, Tony continues his animated debate over some 80s rock band with a wide-eyed agent.

“Bruce, can I talk to you for a minute? In private?”

“Why?” Tony comes over. “And is this conversation coming from Steve Rogers or Captain America, SHIELD’s-”

“Aside from the fact I’m probably going to lose a bet with Sam because of you, it has nothing to do with anything involving the Avengers or SHIELD. I promise, I’ll bring him back to you in a few minutes. Okay?”

Squeezing Tony’s arm, he says, “It’s fine. Careful, I think your agent is looking up videos on Youtube. Don’t know if that’ll help or hinder your argument.”

Muttering something about bootleg copies, Tony goes back over to the wide-eyed agent.

…

He and Steve go to an empty room, and Steve closes the door.

“I wish Tony and I had gotten off on a better foot. When I first met him, even knowing it, I didn’t really make the connection that he’s Howard’s kid. I owe most of what I am to Howard, but more than that, he was one of my closest friends. When they first told me he was dead, my first thought was, ‘Well, either he’s faking it, or I need to find out what hare-brained scheme did him in. Can’t trust the official report, it’ll make him and the circumstances sound more dignified than he deserved.’”

He feels pity flood him at the sound Steve makes at this, but all the same- “Look, Steve, I-”

“This isn’t about Bucky. Part of my point is, the fact Bucky is a victim doesn’t mean the world didn’t lose a great man and that, when I woke up, I didn’t mourn for Howard and continue to even after finding out the truth. I can hate what was done to both of them and wish to God every day that it hadn’t happened to either.”

Sitting down, Steve continues, “My larger point is to let you know that I knew Howard Stark, and I’ve gotten to know his son. In some ways, the world has changed for the better, and in some ways, unfortunately, the world is exactly the same and unlikely to ever change.”

“That’s true.” He sits down. “Really, Steve, today’s been a tiring, frustrating day, and it’s nowhere near over. Could you please just get to whatever you really brought me to talk about?”

“He’s practically bouncing off the walls, because, he can’t fully bring himself to trust you’re here and okay. I’ve been in his shoes. Dangerous situations with my buddies, with Peggy, and when it was over, we were like monkeys. That might be- my point is, there was a lot of hugging and other physical contact. And I can’t tell you how many guys I saw being kissed like crazy by their girls or kissing them after fights, dangerous missions, just them returning home after a long stretch.”

“Tony’s always bouncing off the walls,” he points out.

“Like this, though?”

He has to concede the point.

Taking off his glasses, he rubs his eyes. Steve hasn’t said anything that even truly hints at him knowing or suspecting anything; he'll give Steve this: for someone with a reputation for being plain-spoken, Steve is good at applying words to his advantage.

“So, uh, did you know, or am I just now confirming it?”

“Since Lynnie’s wedding. I don’t know a lot. When and how it happened, how long. I, uh, wasn’t sure how serious it was on either of your ends until this morning. It was a relief to see you, Bruce, but it was also a relief for those elevator doors to open and for him to see you. Whatever the reason for you two deciding to keep things private, he didn’t care about that at all this morning. But you might, and so, he’s yelling at innocent medical staff and challenging our agents about pop culture matters.”

“Okay. I’ll get him and take him somewhere private. Sorry for not taking your hints earlier.”

“Thank you.”

…

“Mister Stark, copyright law-”

“Not the first or last law I’ve broken. I’m not letting this travesty-”

He puts his hand on the back of Tony’s neck. “Tony, let’s take a walk.”

“Do you know what this dewy-eyed kid considers music? He listened to-”

Gently squeezing, he interjects, “Later, Tony. Come talk to me right now, okay?”

Tony looks at him, and then, stands. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Taking Tony’s arm, he tugs. “I’m good. We just need to talk. You can disregard copyright law and deal with what you perceive the decline in proper entertainment culture later.”

Tony makes snake eyes at the wide-eyed agent. “I’ll be back.”

Nodding, the agent enthusiastically replies, “I’ll talk to Legal!”

…

They find an empty room, and closing the door, he puts a hand on the side of Tony’s neck. “I’m okay.”

Exhaling, Tony cups his cheek and kisses him, and it hits him Tony truly, sincerely cares about him.

When the kiss breaks, Tony studies him.

Trying to smile, he takes Tony’s hand. “Let’s sit down. I know this is going to make things even worse for you, and I’m sorry, but- Steve knows.”

“Knows what?”

He explains.

Tapping his fingers, Tony gives something resembling a shrug. “Does this change things for us?”

“If you don’t want it to, no. Whatever happens, whatever the story, I think us in the same bed tonight- it’s something I want.”

Exhaling, a tired but genuine smile crosses Tony’s face, and he squeezes his hand. “We definitely will, then. As for Steve, if this becomes an issue in the future, we’ll deal with it then.”

…

They go back to the dewy-eyed agent, and Tony pulls him down next to him. Wrapping an arm over his shoulders, he resumes his treatise on why his taste in music is superior.

Soon enough, Barton and someone carrying his book come in.

“Mister Stark,” the woman hands the picture and book to Tony.

“That’s mine, thank you.” Retaking the latter, he feels a large amount of the antsyness that’s been under his skin all day disappearing.

“Unfortunately, I have to be on a plane in three hours, but if you two want, you're free to take the robots and make use of me and Nat’s apartment,” Clint says. “Two bedrooms, three beds. I have cable, and I’ll be happy to give you my Wi-Fi password.”

To his surprise, Tony says in all seriousness, “We’ll think about it. Thanks, Clint.”

…

After dinner, they go to Clint’s apartment with a few of the robots in tow.

“Okay, settle in the for the night,” Tony tells them. “No ordering porn on Agent Barton’s pay-per-view, we all remember what Rhodey did to me the last time you did that.”

He debates asking if Tony means ‘you’ as the robots in general or if he’s saying the robot, You, did this.

Deciding it doesn’t matter, he kneels down next to Dummy. Opening and closing his hand, Dummy chirps, and he carefully pats the robot. “Thank you. For earlier, when you brought Mulan out.”

A happy sounding chirp is Dummy’s response.

Coming over, another robot hands him the book he just sat down, and he pats it before checking on the snail habitat.

Tony sets up his laptop. “Hey, Jarvis, you here?”

“Present, sir.”

“The snails are good,” he says.

He doesn’t open the medicine cabinets, bedroom drawers, or closets, but he does start exploring the apartment. He learned a long time ago Barton and Romanov often platonically sleep in the same bed, and so, he’s unsurprised by the queen-sized bed in the main bedroom with two nightstands, archery equipment, and touches of both of them strewn about with Natasha’s side being significantly messier.

Opening the other bedroom door with bright, wooden letters declaring _Only_ _Maximoffs May Enter Without Knocking!_ makes him pause. There’s a bunk-bed, and this isn’t particularly remarkable. What is: The twins are in their twenties now, but if he didn’t know who the room was for, he’d assume it was for two teenagers. There’s a video game console near the TV, posters of people he assumes are musicians or actors on the wall, framed pictures sitting on one of the two desks, a mini-fridge, and more dangling letters and plagues detonating which laundry hamper goes to which twin, whose bunk is whose, and on the closet, a line of tape divided down the middle with Wanda's name on the right and Pietro's on the left.

The twins were seventeen when they first almost destroyed the world, and he's never had an automatic reaction of _just a kid_ when it comes to older teenagers doing terrible things. Regular ones should be charged as adults, he’d have no issue with seeing them chucked into adult prison straight away, and Steve, Natasha, and Clint’s insistence on somewhat babying the two who literally almost destroyed the world has always set him on edge, but-

Unwittingly, he can’t help but wonder who they might have been if weapons bearing the Stark logo hadn’t killed everyone they love and left two little ten-year-olds who, by all indications, had never done anything truly bad huddled together and convinced they’d soon follow all their loved ones.

He closes the door.

...

After brushing their teeth, they start changing for bed.

“You had a strong sense of smell before the Hulk, but there’s a possibility you and he just saved my life again. That makes it two times, now. Not to mention the other lives.”

He isn’t up to arguing. “I’m glad you didn’t get sucked into the wormhole, Tony, and I’m glad the bioweapon wasn’t deployed today.”

“But you’re still determined to hate Hulk.”

He decides, if he has to, he’ll get a hotel room. In fact, he knows he probably should do this now. Tony brought one of his suits along, but there are civilian tenants in Barton’s building.

Instead, he takes off his glasses. “Some of the world’s greatest artists, scientists, and other great thinkers have had things such as schizophrenia, clinical depression, and so on. They’ve suffered. Now, some of them have publicly said that their suffering is part of what makes their work so great and that they couldn’t have done, wouldn’t be who they are, without it. Others have said that, even if it meant they wouldn’t have created some masterpiece, discovered some new formula, etc., that if they could have stopped the suffering in the early stages or outright prevented it, they would have done so in an instant.”

“My take on whether people who have manage to do great things while dealing with mental or physical disabilities, on people who manage to rise above horrible life circumstances to do great things, is that it’s not my place to have an opinion and apply it to them. If someone’s a danger to society, they should be stopped. If they’re a danger to themselves, hopefully, they can be persuaded to accept help. So, if you want to make the argument that them suffering is a good thing because of how others benefit from it, go ahead.”

Reaching over, Tony undoes his belt, and he wishes Tony would just say whatever thoughts are currently going through his head.

Taking his pants off, he puts them next to the belt before slipping on his pyjama bottoms.

“Hulk, the other guy, whatever you want to call the green monster, he’s killed. I’ve killed, because, I’m the one who did something both medical ethics and the law itself forbids, and in doing so, I created him. Or I gave him the ability to manifest. I don’t know.”

Sitting down, Tony pulls him along. “That’s what- Ross is largely to blame. He actively sabotaged your work by not only lying about what you were working on but taking steps so that you couldn’t figure it out.”

“Psychology and medicine in general are two areas I’ve never applied myself to. I think, the current belief is, in the case of multiple personalities, it’s advised to try getting however many there are to merge together instead of destroying one or more of them. In your case, Hulk isn’t exactly comparable to mental illness or other physical disabilities or illness.”

“You don’t know what the Hulk could do, could be, Bruce. No one does. That’s the thing, maybe, he could do more than smash things, protect you from dying, and save my life from wormholes. No one knows what his level of sentience is or what it could be. For all either of us know, he could be taught. I’d argue he’s shown signs of having a moral compass, but even if he doesn’t, to say it’s impossible for him to ever develop one-”

Everything left unsaid hangs in the silence.

“It’s late, Tony, and tomorrow’s going to be another long day.” Standing up, he takes off his shirt. “I’m going to bed.” Frowning, he looks through his bag, and then, Tony’s. “And I’m wearing one of your shirts, because, I didn’t pack what I thought I had.”

Tony wordlessly changes into his own pyjama bottoms and one of his tank-tops.

They get in bed, Jarvis turns on one of his ambient soundmixes, and neither of them sleeps well.

…

After a few days, everyone and everything is moved back into the tower, aside from two of Tony’s interns whose family insisted they drop their internships.

Steve and Romanov bring over notes on the bioweapon.

“Looks like you and Stark have been working overtime to beef up tower security,” she comments.

“He probably has been. Careful about going into the other labs, he drew one of the interns into a two hour debate and almost sent the kid home crying. Hopefully, Colonel Rhodes’s assignment will be over soon and he can come see him. This is fascinating. Any chance we could-”

“No,” Steve says. “Sorry, Bruce, but this is being locked down as tightly as possible. Even Fitz-Simmons, two of our best scientists, aren’t being allowed near it. Phil’s yelling at Fury over that.”

“Fair enough. Can you tell me anything about who might have done this or why?”

“As soon as we get a lead, we will,” she says. “We’re looking into everyone we know Tony’s pissed off recently, and we’ve tentatively ruled out his employees and interns as suspects.”

“What about me?”

They both give him a confused look.

“Have you ruled out me as the primary target? This virus is highly infectious. If I was exposed, there’s a very good chance I would have survived the infection due to the other guy. Whether I would have been a carrier or not, though, I don’t know. It was addressed to Tony, but it’s not exactly a secret that I usually don’t open my own mail. If I don’t know the sender, I set it aside, and if he doesn’t take it during a lab visit, every Sunday, one of the robots will come and take it to Tony. I don’t really know when he usually opens it. If it was sent to an intern or employee, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t take it home to open, and then, of course, there’s the possibility it could have been lost and ended up who knows where.”

“So far, we’re thinking he was the target, but we haven’t ruled anything out,” she says. “Though, in case you’re wondering, you aren’t a suspect.”

“That’s true, but I do need to talk to you about a personal matter,” Steve says.

“In that case, if you don’t have anymore questions, I need to get back to headquarters, doctor.”

“No, that’s all. Thanks.”

“Find me when you get back,” she tells Steve.

After she’s gone, Steve glances around. “If I’ve caused some sort of problem between you and Tony-”

“What?” Trying to get his confusion under control, he says, “No, you haven’t.”

“It, uh, seems- there’s more distance, or seems to be, than I would have expected.”

He tries not to sigh. “Yeah, there is, but I promise you, it has nothing to do with you. It’s mostly down to the other guy. Or more accurately, Tony and I have different thoughts and feelings towards him. It’s something we don’t talk about, but stressful, potentially life-threatening situation survived, and well, things have a tendency to just come out.”

Steve nods. “Sorry, doc. I hope things get better between you soon.”

The words surprise him, and something must show on his face.

“Howard would have liked you. It doesn’t really matter whether he would or wouldn’t have, but you might like to know that. He’d be worried about his son for different reasons, a main one being the fact Tony is Tony-”

He stifles a laugh.

“But he would have liked you.”

“I- that isn’t the impression Tony seems to have. We’ve never really talked directly about what his dad might think and feel, but he does think that Obadiah Stane did have enough twisted respect or fondness for Howard that made him want to keep Howard having a son like that secret.”

Steve shrugs. “I didn’t know Stane or Anton Vanko. I- I’m hesitant to say Howard was ahead of our time. He was. It’s just, I’m not sure I consider that the point.”

Picking up a nearby stress ball, Steve turns it over in his hands. “When I knew him, Howard was the type who argued, sometimes very loudly, that marriage is a silly, outdated institution. Back then, his response to marriage equality would probably be along the lines of, ‘Marriage isn’t a right, it’s a legal institution people are being unjustly conditioned from birth to participate in, and for God’s sake, don’t tell even more people that it’s something they should aspire to.’”

A small smile crosses Steve’s face. “In his own way, he didn’t like bullies anymore than I do. But more than that, I always knew that, if Howard Stark ever did have kids, they’d be the love of his life. It, uh- some of what I’ve heard from both Tony and others, Howard left something to be desired. I can believe that about him, but whatever his mistakes, nothing will ever convince me that he didn’t love Tony with all his heart and that he wouldn’t be happy about Tony being in a happy relationship with a decent person.”

“Thanks, Steve.”

Setting the ball down and squeezing his arm, Steve says, “Take care of yourself. And him.”

…

He knows there’s a good chance there are going to be further issues regarding the other guy in the future, but he refuses to think about this.

For right now, everything is back to normal, and he’s going to hold onto this for as long as he can.

Tony’s trying to get his malfunctioning jukebox to stop playing, and one of the non-Dummy robots is more-or-less chasing him around with a bowtie.

“Come on, Tony, we’re going to be late.”

“I can fix this!”

“I don’t doubt that. But you can fix it later. We’ll soundproof the lab, and when we get back, you can change out of your tux and get to work.”

“What if it stops before we get back?”

“You can still figure out what caused it to malfunction in the first place.”

“Uh-huh. And what if they fix it before I can?” Tony gestures to the robots milling about.

Noticing one of them has brought over Tony’s wallet, he checks to make sure everything’s still inside before slipping it into Tony’s pocket. “Do you really think that’s a concern?”

“No, I guess not,” Tony admits with a doubtful look at the robot holding the bowtie.

“I’ll do it,” he offers.

Looping it around Tony’s neck, he begins tying.

“I don’t like our current President. I didn’t vote for him. In fact, I actively, publicly donated to former Vice President Bently. Why am I even going? You didn’t vote for him, either. Though who you did vote for-”

“Short of committing one or more major felonies, you’ll never know. President Murphy isn’t going to be there, and ending diabetes is something you do agree with.”

“He’s an idiot. Thank God there are rules about letting Wi-Fi in the White House. Before he took office, he tweeted the most insipid things imaginable. Of course, that might change soon, now that the Pope, of all people, has a Twitter account. I won’t go into poor taste, but it’s not unfair or untrue to point out men and women of the cloth already have huge societal influence and don’t have the greatest track record of using this influence for good.”

Laughing, he kisses Tony. “It’s three hours and for a good cause.”

…

Soon after they get to the benefit, Tony spots Lieutenant Colonel Davis and gets into a conversation with her.

He's reading Lynnie’s latest paper on Tony’s phone when he hears, “Dr Banner?”

He looks up, and a man shows his SHIELD badge. “Agent Bill Walton. Could I talk to you about the bioweapon sent to the Avenger’s tower a few weeks ago?”

“Yeah, sure.” Standing up, he offers his hand, and after they’ve shaken, he gestures for Agent Walton to sit down.

“My partner’s de- interacted with Mister Stark in the past and said that it’d be better to try to talk to you.”

Chuckling, he nods. “As long as you don’t see green, I’m the safer option. Is your partner here?”

“No. Mack never wants to deal with Tony Stark again if it can possibly be helped,” is the good-naturedly blunt reply.

“Fair enough. What exactly do you want to talk about?”

“At 5:15 p.m. U.S. time this afternoon, a rural Cambodian village was wiped out. There’s one known survivor, who’s been quarantined. Unfortunately- our doctors and scientists think she’s going to die soon. The virus is still killing her, it’s just taking longer than the rest of her village. She doesn’t know how the virus was introduced to the village or by who. We don’t know if it was the same person or people who sent it to Mister Stark.”

“Are you here to see if I can be of medical help to her, or is it more about the investigation of the package sent to us?”

“Medical help,” Agent Walton answers. “She’s twenty-one, sir. She’s scared of our translators, terrified of the docs and scientists, and she’s dying in agony. I don’t know why we aren’t putting her in cryo, but apparently that’s not an option or not a good one.”

Shaking his head, he continues, “I’m good at shooting guns and roundhouse kicks. And I tried to mail the class geek to China when I was a kid. It turns out SHIELD started taking a much harder view on the idea of selling genuises as lab rats around the same time I signed up. But, uh, on the positive side, I know how I got caught the first time, so, if that ever eases, Mack is going to make me a fortune.”

He laughs. “Did you bring notes?”

“And pictures,” Agent Walton answers with a grimance. He pushes a file over, and then, sets his phone on the table. Looking away, he says, “I took the password off. Just go into the photos.”

Going through it, he asks, “Where’s Ms Nhek being held?”

“I’m sorry, that’s classified.”

“There’s an Asgardian dog in this picture. Why is Area 51 the go-to area for you people?”

“Technically, sir, you don’t know that isn’t just a larger than average large breed dog. And in this instance, we’re hoping, if the virus does manage to get outside of the base, it’ll die out in the desert. We, uh, evacuated the other people who were being held there, I can’t tell you where, but they were gone before she ever entered U.S. airspace.”

“The dog is pink, has red eyes, and has a scientist in its mouth.”

“Heathcliff only has Dr Mason by her hazmat suit, which thankfully, wasn’t breached. She’s fine. Not even shaken up, nothing short of butterscotch ice-cream fazes our doc. And we have plenty of people who could easily Photoshop such an image.” Agent Walton sighs. “In addition, that picture wasn’t even supposed to be in there. Mack and I are going to be yelled at by our superiors for that.”

“As for Heathcliff himself, that- was sort of a mistake on our part, but we handled it. We couldn’t get him to leave, sir, and we needed to get her there as quickly as possible. But he isn’t showing any signs of infection, and he’s giving her some comfort. Once we managed to convince him that- every time they draw blood, it makes the pain worse for her, but it’s their best chance of possibly helping her.”

“I’m assuming Director Fury is in contact with Thor's colony?”

“I’m- I know he’s been trying. I can’t tell you anything about that, because, I don’t know anything. He’s angry about something.”

“But the scientists think something Asgardian might hold the cure to helping other humans, if not her specifically, with this virus’s existence?”

“It’s a guess, yes, sir. We’re not sure how Heathcliff is going to react if-” Agent Walton lets out another sigh.

“Alright." He starts typing. “I’m going to need all this emailed. Now, all the village pictures are closed, and I have them attached to an email ready to be sent to Stark servers. Make sure I haven’t done anything to your phone, and then, just hit send.”

Looking back over, Agent Walton gives him a grateful, relieved look. “Thank you, Dr Banner.”

He nods. “Have Fury call me or Tony soon. Preferably before Ms Nhek dies. He and I should be leaving soon.” Looking around, he sees Tony looking bored as an older man talks. “There he is. It was nice meeting you, Agent Walton.”

Standing, Agent Walton shakes his hand again. “Likewise, Dr Banner.”

Before he can get more than a few steps towards Tony, Tony sees him and practically sprints over. “If that wasn’t some alphabet agency suit, I will set Veronica on you for leaving me to fend for myself.”

“I thought you and Lieutenant Colonel Davis were having a good time.”

“That’s a story for another time. So, who was he?”

“SHIELD. He sent us an email. That bioweapon someone sent us was deployed earlier today.”

Accepting his phone back, Tony’s eyes scan across the screen. “This is more than a good enough reason to leave early. Let’s go.”

They get their coats, and as they head outside, Tony asks, “Think we have time to get some fast food before we head back?”

“Yeah, sure. If you want Burger King, I could do with some French fries.”

“I think they opened a new yogurt shop nearby," Tony says. "It’d be a good place to try that new-”

“Mister Stark, Dr Banner, could we get a picture?”

Tony gives him a look.

Shrugging, he puts his glasses up, and with a grin, Tony puts an arm across his shoulders and replies, “Sure. Why not?”

They smile, and there’s a flash of lights.

….

“Welcome back, sir. Dr Banner. There are multiple reports of severe thunderstorms over the Nevada desert. His Majesty Thor, son of Odin, I presume?”

“Most likely,” Tony agrees. “If Fury or anyone from SHIELD calls or comes by, alert us both immediately.”

“As you wish, sir.”

Going up to Tony’s room, they settle down on the floor with their fast food and yogurt.

“What happened is terrible, but are you okay, big guy?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. The people who did this, whatever reason they had for targeting us, they were always going to attack someone. They hold all responsibility for doing such an evil thing.”

When they finish their food, Tony says, “Erica propositioned me.”

“Lieutenant Colonel Davis?”

Tony nods.

“Bet the awkwardness when Colonel Rhodes finds out is going to be fun,” he teases.

His good humour fades when he takes in Tony’s stance and expression. “Did something else happen?”

“I turned her down.”

“Because of Colonel Rhodes?”

“No. He wouldn’t be surprised if it did happen.”

“Tony, if something’s wrong, and you want me to, I’ll try to help you, but you need to give me a little more.”

“We don’t have to call ourselves boyfriends. We don’t have to call ourselves anything. I’m not asking you to move to Malibu. But this beautiful woman I’ve been flirting with, who’s been flirting with me, since me and Pepper broke up just made me an incredibly tempting offer, and- tempting didn’t cut it."

Tony takes a breath. "I only want you. I don’t want sex with anyone else, I don’t want to go to sleep or wake up next to anyone but you. And I don’t care if you’ve been with anyone else since we started, I wouldn’t be hypocritical and be mad or hurt or offended if you happen to be tempted by someone else, but uh, I’d really like it if it could just be me from now on.”

Logically, he knows that Pepper must have, but he still wonders: Did she ever see Tony so vulnerable?

He’s seen Tony face death, and they’ve both dealt with friends and loved ones facing danger, but everything from Tony’s eyes to the way he’s tracing the carpet with his fingertips is a completely different sort of vulnerability.

He stills Tony’s hand. “If you’re sure that’s what you want, okay.”

Tony peers closely at him.

Moving to press his shoulder against Tony’s, he continues, “I haven’t been with anyone else. I haven’t wanted anyone but you. When we first started, putting definite limits and definitions on what we were going to be didn’t strike me as a good idea."

"But we’ve been together long enough that starting to- I’m never going to believe humans wouldn’t be better off if we stopped trying to socially promote and enforce monogamy, but personally, monogamy works for me. When I was with Betty, I only wanted her, and now, I only want you. If you’re sure you want to limit yourself to me, then, I know you probably didn’t come to such a decision lightly. So, it can just be you and me.”

Kissing him, Tony says, “Yes. That’s what I want.”

…

“Sir, Dr Banner, some of the other Avengers are here and requesting your presences. Shall I send them up?”

Tony mumbles.

“Yeah, go ahead, Jarvis,” he yawns. Getting up, he digs one of Tony’s t-shirts out of the drawer, hauls Tony into a sitting position, and gets it on him. “Come on, Tony, something’s happening.”

“Kiss,” is the half-hopeful, sleepy inquiry.

He kisses him, and when it breaks, Tony is awake enough to go over to the coffeemaker and glare at it for not being completely done making coffee yet.

“Shall I order a teamaker for you, Dr Banner?”

For a minute, the question confuses him, because, he already has two teamakers, one in his suite and the other in his lab, but he realises Jarvis means for Tony’s room.

“No, that’s okay. Thank you, Jarvis.”

There’s a knock on the door, and he opens it.

“Huh, you were right,” Clint says to Steve. “Don’t you two ever take a break from all the science, doc?”

He sees everyone but Clint and Steve take in the bed. It’s possible Tony himself could have made the bed rumpled on both sides, but given the fact his glasses and book are on the nightstand and he’s wearing one of Tony’s shirts with his own pyjama bottoms, the more likely conclusion is they were both sleeping in the bed.

This is payback for him invading Tony’s room when Pepper was sleeping in there, he knows.

Deliberately ignoring the twins, he sees Natasha and Steve have an eyes-only conversation. Thor smiles at him.

“Rhodey and Peter are going to be here soon,” Natasha says.

“And Sam’s already on his way to Nevada,” Steve adds.

“Alright, we’re moving this out of my bedroom, then. And please, everyone kindly refrain from telling my best friend about my new relationship. Come on, everyone scoot.”

“New?” is Steve’s response.

“Oh, you’re seeing someone new? That’s good. I bet Pepper will be happy for you. Uh, I’m guessing Tash here didn’t know.” Clint pats Romanov’s arm. “Who is it?”

He's never spent much personal time with Clint, but in this instance, he genuinely likes the man who has shown common sense approaching the levels of brilliance at times but is completely failing to pick up what everyone else has deduced about them.

Coming over beside him, Wanda comments, “Perhaps, we do owe more to Stark than we realised.”

In the living room, Clint studies him and Tony. “Oh. That’s interesting. Don’t get me wrong, congratulations, but Tasha, how long have you and the others known?”

“I’ve known for the last five minutes. Captain America, proponent of transparency, however-”

“On a governmental level. On a private citizen or individual level, people generally have a right to privacy when it comes to-”

“I’ve only known since we got here, too,” Thor interjects. “I’m happy for you both. I’d also like to request, if you marry, there be-”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Grimacing, Tony looks down at his coffee. “Jarvis, make my regular coffee, now.”

“Right away, sir.”

“Anyway, yeah, I’ve already promised you, buddy, I ever get married, the ceremony will be held outside on a Friday.”

Quietly, Natasha wryly comments, “Hopefully, that’ll be okay with you.”

He almost says, ‘If he gets married, it won’t be to me,’ but thinks better of it. “Eh, at one point, Betty and I talked about doing handfasting, but Ross threw a fit over that.”

Colonel Rhodes comes in. “Hey, Peter will be here soon.” Hugging Tony, he adds, “He’s helping get a cat out of a tree.”

“No, of course, he is,” Tony mutters. “Tell me you brought snacks or that he’ll shortly be here with snacks.”

“Sir, the Avenger’s kitchen is fully stocked.”

“Then, that’s where we’re going,” Tony declares.

…

“I believe Asgardians are immune to the affliction inflicting Princess Kanleakhana, but Fury refuses to let me relocate her to Migard's Asgard.”

He wonders if this is because she's been deemed too weak to travel or if there's a different reason for the refusal. It would be easy enough to transport her to Antarctica with minimal risk of infection, and even if the Asgardians aren't immune and she manages to infect them, the virus is even less likely to survive in the Antarctic than the Nevada desert. In fact, though he hates the thought of the last of Thor's people being wiped out, it'd be safer for humans to put her there as opposed to the desert civilians do occasionally enter.

“This woman is a princess,” Colonel Rhodes asks.

Before Rhodes can get any ideas about misinformation, he explains, “Her name is Botum Kanleakhana Nhek. ‘Botum’ means ‘a princess’. But no, she’s not royalty.”

“Hey, everyone, I’m sorry I’m late, but um, I brought snacks?” Peter comes in with his arms full, and as the twins help him set the food and drinks down, the three have a quick conversation in Ukrainian. “Oh, and Mister Stark, You led me to the wrong room, and did you know your jukebox-”

He’s cut off by Tony’s look at him. “I was going to fix that! You were going to remind me.”

“I never actually said anything about reminding you, but I did plan on it after we were done eating. Then, other things happened, and it slipped my mind.”

Tony tosses a blueberry muffin at him. “Okay, getting everyone up to speed here, making sure we’re all on the same page...”

…

He’s in one of, if not the, most secure military bases in the world.

There are times he questions every life choice he ever made, starting with not finding a way to leave his mother’s body when he was a zygote.

Jumping, he relaxes a little when he realises Tony has wrapped a hand around his lower arm. “We’re off the plane, at least. Want to ask these nice soldiers with semi-automatics if they have a submarine we could explore? I’m starting to miss my jolly green giant friend.”

He can’t help but laugh. “He can’t protect you if I get Ned to empty all your bank accounts and hack all your non-Jarvis electronics.”

“Yeah? What would you do with all that money?”

“Let’s face it, you’d get it all back soon enough, but the minor inconveniences not having it would cause would be interesting to watch.”

Tony chuckles. “Okay, but seriously, what would you do if you had my kind of money?”

“Mostly what you’re doing now, really,” he answers. “Helping people. I wouldn’t spend near as much on cars, and I probably wouldn’t keep any wild animals I bought.”

One of the soldiers glances at them.

“The wild animal in question is in a preserve. Mister Stark just refuses to sign over legal ownership.”

“I thought you agreed with that.”

“I do. Still not something I’d do. I wouldn’t want the stress of dealing with your PETA painters.”

“We’re here. Mister Stark, we know you’re going to argue, but you aren’t going to win. Dr Banner is allowed in the room along with-”

Holding his hand up, Tony says, “We’ll get to that in a minute. You _do_ deal with them most of the time.”

“Because, they don’t have a problem with me. And I say this with complete affection: If being a buffer between you and people you cause negative feelings in caused true stress, I would have left years ago. As long as no one is actively trying to physically hurt you, I usually make it clear I agree with them while reminding myself I do genuinely think the world of you.” Putting his hand on the back of Tony’s neck, he finishes, “Okay?”

Smiling, Tony nods.

“Now, let’s shift our focus strictly to the dying woman.”

“Got it,” Tony says. He turns back to the soldiers. “I know, I can’t go in, but I can go through the decontamination shower with Dr Banner. It won’t affect my reactor.”

“He’s going to need to be completely naked.”

Shrugging, Tony starts taking off his own shoes. “The last time he came back after an appearance from Hulk, I was the one who brought him clothes and helped him put them on. And before he and I even met, he was being treated to the pleasure of seeing me naked.”

“Do not make it sound like I deliberately sought out that video,” he warns. “That didn’t help my stress levels. I finally found the directions I needed, and suddenly, this video of a naked person pops up out of nowhere. I thought I’d accidentally stumbled onto a porn site and was going to get kicked out.”

Tony’s taken off his belt, and when he starts to lift his shirt up, the officer stops him. “You can go in, Mister Stark. Please, finish getting undressed inside.”

Inside, he concentrates on his breathing as he takes off his watch and hands over his glasses and book before stripping and getting underneath the shower.

“Falcon isn’t an MD, licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, or an active soldier,” Tony says. “Why’s he getting access?”

“He is a counsellor specialising in PTSD, sir. Our licensed psychologists and psychiatrists aren’t having much luck. If it weren’t for Heathcliff, we’re afraid she’d refuse to eat at all.”

Soon enough, he's changed into the approved jumpsuit and hazmat suit, and Tony's wearing a jumpsuit, too. “I’ll be right out here, big guy.”

“Thanks, Tony.”

…

In the end, he doesn’t end ups leaving Area 51 almost as quickly as he came.

Before he could even enter the room, someone had discovered Miss Nhek is either a Mutant, an Inhuman, or just otherwise not a standard human. A SHIELD agent who is also not a run-of-the-mill human was flown in with a vial of blue liquid, and three hours after drinking it, Miss Nhek was completely physically healthy, though still traumatised enough she’s staying near Heathcliff, and Falcon is staying until she’s ready to leave, in part to make sure she is returned back to society rather than secreted away to some SHIELD holding-slash-observation centre.

A few days after they get back, he’s working in the lab when Colonel Rhodes comes in with a bag of food.

“I was wondering if we could have lunch, Dr Banner,” he says in a perfectly polite tone that makes it clear this is not actually a request or suggestion.

“Okay. How’s the Avenger’s kitchen sound? We’re not eating in here.”

“Sounds good.”

…

They sit picking at their food. Rhodes has some American-Mexican dish, and he brought his (Bruce’s) usual order from a local New Orleans restaurant.

“Tony hasn’t told me anything. That doesn’t mean I haven’t known. Around the time he had that party for Ned, you and he started sleeping together. Now, most of the others know, too.”

He stays quiet.

“It feels like most of my life has been spent looking out for Tony. Do you know how he and I met?”

“I know he was in love with you,” he quietly says. Taking in the expression on Rhodes’s face, he continues, “He didn’t tell me that. He told me that he fell in love with another man when he was eighteen. I pieced together the rest.”

A sad smile crosses Rhodes’s face. “I think it took years for him to truly understand that me not returning those feelings doesn’t mean I don’t love him. I want to try to make sure you understand that. I love Tony, and I would do almost anything for him. When it comes to him and relationships, most of the time, it was one-night stands or casual arrangements. I really liked Pepper before she and he happened, and now, I love her just as much as I love him.”

“This isn’t where I threaten you, Dr Banner. I don’t really believe in that, and I know it might not be something you take seriously. You were smart enough to evade the U.S. military for almost a decade, and if there’s something that can kill you, no one’s found it yet. It doesn’t matter, because, I have the certainty that, if specific things ever happen to my Tony, are done to him, I will find a way to do what Thunderbolt never could.”

“But this is where I ask you as one person to another to try not to hurt him. You’re special to him, and I don’t know you on a personal level. That makes me worry for him, but I’m hoping he’s fallen for a good man. Not an Avenger, not a brilliant doctor, a good man. And I hope he’s fallen for someone who feels deeply for him, too.”

He takes a breath. “And that’s all I really came to say.”

Nodding, he takes a sip of his tea. “I’m not going to intentionally hurt your friend, Colonel Rhodes. If Tony and I don’t last, that’ll hurt both of us, but if we don’t, it won’t be because of me not trying to have an open and honest relationship with him and make him happy. I think the world of Tony, and I’ve told him this. I don’t know you on a personal level, either, but I’ve always known how much the two of you love one another. It’d be hard not to see. And I’m glad he’s had such a great friend all these years.”

Colonel Rhodes starts to respond, but Tony comes in.

“Rhodey. What are you doing here? Talking to Dr Banner?”

...

He's getting ready to take a shower when Tony comes in. “Rhodey refused to tell me what you and he talked about. Said it was up to you whether you wanted to tell me or not.”

“He just wanted to make sure my intentions are pure.”

Tony makes a face. “I really hope they aren’t.”

He tosses a dirty towel in Tony's face. “He wanted to make sure I'm not going to hurt you.”

“Better,” Tony says.

“Want to join me?”

Undressing, Tony says, “I was hoping you’d ask.”

Chuckling, he gets more towels out.

“But was that all,” Tony asks. “And how exactly did he go about asking?”

“Tony, don’t be upset. You don’t need to worry. Colonel Rhodes made it clear how much he cares about you and that- he just wants to try to make sure I’m not bad news. The kind of thing any best friend would do. He was nice about it. Brought me lunch.”

“You know, I’ve done worse things than- all those videos and pictures of me less-than fully dressed, there are far more embarrassing ones that the public hasn’t seen. Baby pictures, that time I got into an argument with a mall Santa, I don’t even know why Aunt Ana was recording me, I think maybe she and Jarvis had gotten a new video camera, but I never could get the footage erased while they were still alive.”

Pulling his hand out of the shower, he says, “I think the water’s ready. He didn’t show me any baby pictures or recordings of you. I’m sure you were a cute baby, though.”

Getting in, Tony asks, “What about you?”

“I don’t know if any baby pictures of me still exist or not. When I went to live with my aunt and uncle, I took some pictures of my mom and a toy dinosaur I’d thought she’d given me. I never asked or tried to find out what happened to everything else.”

An expression of sadness and what might be pity crosses Tony’s face, but ducking underneath the water, his tone is normal when he says, “It’s about time for me to get a new bed.” Pulling him over, he continues, “Want to help me pick one out? It could be ours.”

He kisses him. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

Grinning, Tony asks, “You know what else sounds good?”

He laughs. “What?”

…

A week after he and Tony pick out a new bed, the internet explodes with speculation about Iron Man and Hulk, and he’s not sure if these facts are connected or not.

Pepper comes to Stark Tower and is perfectly civil towards him.

“One rule, Tony. There was one rule that, for years and years and years, I actually got you to follow!”

Tony isn’t so lucky.

“I’ve done nothing wrong here. Well, Bruce here seems to think we waste too much shower water, but-”

He’s both impressed and a little unnerved at how easily she bats away the stress ball he chucked at Tony before it can make contact.

“You know better than to enter a romantic relationship without telling me.” She takes a breath. “You know, even after we broke up, I never worried about you sleeping with a fellow Avenger. I had plans on how to handle it if you did, but I wasn’t worried. Honestly, this doesn’t surprise me. Your feelings for Bruce- but you should have told me so that, he, you, and I weren’t blind-sided like this.”

“Uh, I’m going to interject here. I didn’t want anyone to know. When we first started, I asked Tony to help me try to keep it private.”

She gives him a look he’s not sure how to interpret. Shaking her head, she says, “I can understand and respect that. But Tony should have explained why he needed to tell me.”

“Pep-”

Waving him quiet, she sits down. “I’ve never cared who he slept with. I’ve rolled my eyes many, many times, and there were a few times I seriously considered finding a more conventional boss, but I’ve never cared. He never had serious relationships in all the time I was working as his P.A. I honestly don’t know if I would have found myself jealous if he had or not. But soon after I first started working for him, we made a deal.”

She glares back at Tony. “If he ever intentionally did a repeat, he would tell me. If he found himself falling for someone, he would tell me. Even before you, there were times when I don’t think he kept his end of the agreement on that one, but he kept it so well hidden, I didn’t need him to. And most importantly, if he entered into an actual relationship with someone, he would tell me, so that the three of us could figure out the best way to handle all the people who’d splash it all over the newspapers, TV, and internet.”

“Let’s get this out,” Tony says. “The first time we had sex, I didn’t know for sure there was going to be a second time. And when it turned out there was, it wasn’t exactly what some would define as a relationship. By the time it was-” Tony shrugs.

Sighing, she says, “Fine. Dr Banner, I hope you can appreciate that Stark Industries is a business, and it’s my job to help run it. Your relationship with Tony could potentially affect it. Now, however you and Tony want to handle this, I’ll try my best to help you, but I’m not going to refrain from telling you both if I think you’re making a bad decision.”

“I understand and do appreciate it.”

“Good. Now, do you happen to have a strong attachment to any of the paintings here or in Tony’s house?”

“Pepper,” Tony groans.

“Um, no,” he answers. “Most of them are, uh, nice, but I’ve never really cared much for art.”

She gives Tony a stern look. “I helped cultivate the collection. It’s all going to be delivered to my house within the next few days.”

“Fine,” Tony says. “Is this supposed to be punishment, or are you actually afraid the big guy here will try to lay claim to your collection?”

“Neither. As far as anyone outside of this room is concerned, discussing the relocation of my art collection is the reason I came today.”

…

“Helen called earlier. She wants to meet next week on Friday. You’re invited.”

Setting the book he's reading aside, he asks, “She’s still in New Zealand, right?”

Tony nods.

“Have fun.”

Laughing, Tony gets into bed and wraps around him.

“There’s a difference between making a decision when you’re young and in love and facing a situation like this,” he says. “I know you were willing to let everyone know when you were eighteen. In the question of whether Stane was right or wrong, I always focus more on the fact he was a terrorist who tried to kill you and Pepper than anything else. But Tony, this could drastically affect your company. It could affect public perception of the Avengers.”

“We don’t have to confirm anything,” Tony says. “Just let it all die down.”

“I’m not the one holding my cards close to my chest this time,” he points out. “I have no idea how exactly you’re feeling about this.”

Propping himself up, Tony kisses him. “I’ve always known Pep’s view was right. There’s a lot wrong with me, big guy. My list of faults would fill out several single-spaced pages. There are some things I’m never going to forgive myself for. But an attraction to men isn’t part of all that. It might have been a hell of a lot easier if I hadn’t fallen in love with a straight man, but- I owe a lot of the good parts of me, the ones that developed, to it.”

“When it comes to you and me,” he can feel Tony shrug, “I don’t need people to know, but I’m not worried about myself if they do. I just don’t want this to negatively impact you and me, Bruce.”

He wishes Tony had some strong feelings on the matter. This could irrevocably change Tony’s life more than it could his.

“Jarvis recorded Spritz’s address to Congress. Want to reschedule movie night for tomorrow and watch it tonight?”

“Sounds good. Hopefully, our elected representatives will have more sense than Harvard did.”

“If they decide to, you’re not going to stop them from approving his increase in funding from-”

“I can try. Every time people throw money at the idiot, they increase the chances that more people than him will end up dying when his idiocy-”

Tony laughs. “Save it for your open letter, big guy.”

Sighing, he lies down and adjusts his head so that he can see the TV.

…

One of the robots comes into the lab chirping and holding a letter.

Taking off his safety goggles, he looks down. “That goes to Tony. I know it’s addressed to me, but only mail from certain senders comes directly to me.”

“Pardon me, Dr Banner, but I instructed Graceless to bring it straight to you,” Jarvis says. “I believe you’ll want to read it before deciding whether to show it to Sir or not. Both scanning and the Stark K9s have detected no explosives, biotoxins, or infectious agents.”

Taking the letter, he pats the robot, and it chirps before zooming off.

Setting it aside, he finishes his experiment before opening it.

When he’s done reading it, he says, “Thanks, Jarvis.”

Down on the interns' floor, he finds Tony and a group of them in one of the observation rooms watching as Happy shoots a gun at one of Tony’s suits.

“Hey.” Tony smiles up at him. “They have a bet going on whether a combination of baking soda and lemon juice will help, hinder, or have no impact on shatter-resistance.”

“Careful not to get Miss Potts down here yelling at us about gambling laws. What exactly are the terms of the bet?”

“Pepper’s never yelled at you.”

“Which doesn’t answer my question, but what I really came to ask is if you’d already had lunch.”

“No. That an invitation for some company?”

“Yeah.”

…

Every week, one of the interns always brings two big bowls of pasta and places them in the downstairs kitchen for everyone to enjoy.

Instead of going up to the Avenger’s kitchen, they fix two bowls.

“Here, read this.” He hands the letter over.

He watches Tony’s eyes scan the words, and he can tell when Tony gets to certain parts by the pain entering Tony’s eyes.

“I hope you write the kid back, but,” Tony slides the letter back over, “it’s not something to base such a big decision on. Obie- he had a point about that when he and Pepper were arguing.”

“What’s going to happen to your stock if we do this?”

“And don’t make it about that,” Tony orders through a mouthful. Swallowing, he takes a drink. “57.3% is how much it dropped when I unveiled Maryam’s new faux fur line. Admittedly, the interview I gave taunting PETA also played a part, but you never tried to stop me from the first part. And now, Stark Industries is making over a million dollars more than it was last year, and two little girls are going to love you come Easter.”

“Fake fur isn’t really a contentious issue for most of the population. Sections of PETA themselves have no problem with that.”

“Over a 50% drop is still typically bad news. And as you said, it happened over a largely non-contentious issue. Look, I’m trying to do the opposite of trying to talk you into anything, but even if it’s not us, eventually, the Avengers are going to face even worse public condemnation than we already have. Aside from unavoidable collateral damage, we’re all humans. We all have things we regret, we all are going to do more things that we regret, including me just now realising that I left a group of mostly teenagers alone with Happy and one of my suits, and there’s always a risk that something personal one of us doesn’t want to get out is going to be splashed across the evening news. Jarvis, tell me all the dangerous, explode-y chemicals are safely locked up.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And the suit Happy was shooting at, it doesn’t fit him?”

“It does not, sir. In addition, a number of interns and Security Chief Hogan are currently watching Downton Abbey.”

Tony relaxes, and he suddenly knows what he needs and wants to do.

“If we confirm this, what’s the best way to go about that?”

Looking up, Tony studies him closely, and he nods. “If we discuss this with the others, the twins need to be part of it.”

He can tell Tony is trying to fight off a smile. “You sure?”

Putting his hand on the back of Tony’s neck, he kisses him.

…

“I don’t want to wait until after I get back. Bruce is okay with doing it now.”

“Tony, I understand, but you need to consider how it might look if you and he announce this now, and then, suddenly, you’re flying off to a different country without him,” Pepper says.

“It’s not a secret I hate air travel,” he points out. “Helen’s a good friend, but short of an emergency, I won’t be visiting her until she’s a whole lot closer.”

“If you want my opinion, Miss Potts is right,” Clint says. “I’m sure you probably had a honeymoon period shortly after things began, but once this happens, even with some of the idiots who are going to be screaming, don’t be surprised if it happens again. You’ll both be more antsy and on-edge if you do it now and can’t fully enjoy it right away than if you wait until Tony gets back.”

He considers this.

“Eh, you might have a point,” Tony says.

“Question.” Pietro raises his hand. “Do I need to be here? We’ve been not telling everyone about Stark and the doctor for some time now. We won’t start now. When they want to tell, they don’t need or want us to figure that out.”

“This is also about how we all feel about this,” Steve says. “It’s important everyone’s clear and on the same page.”

Wanda quietly speaks in Ukrainian.

Pietro scoffs. “Really? I don’t think either of them want to hear my thoughts.”

He would be surprised if either of the twins were homophobic, but no, he doesn’t particularly want to hear Pietro or Wanda’s thoughts.

Standing, Tony crosses his arms. “Oh, I think I do. Why don’t we let them, Pep, Cap? And you two,” he gestures to Clint and Romanov, “no putting on training wheels at this point.”

“Bruce,” Steve starts.

Feeling incredibly weary, he says, “Tony might be right. All this has to come out eventually.”

Standing up, Wanda links her fingers through her brother’s.

“It won’t last,” Pietro quietly announces.

Tony stiffens.

He starts to stand up, but grabbing his hand, Romanov shakes her head.

“You can think I take joy in saying such a thing if you want, but I don’t. In many ways, it makes me sad. But in other ways, you both deserve it.”

“Excuse me-” Pepper starts, but letting go of his hand, Romanov somehow manages to get Pepper out of the room before retaking her seat.

“Steve sees child soldiers in us, never mind that we were fully grown when Ultron happened. Barton sees Natasha in Wanda. And Natasha is the only one who sees us clearly. You and Dr Banner, you’re hypocrites with how you continue to condemn us.”

“It was your weapons that killed our parents. And it was Dr Banner who experimented on himself. He hates my sister for what she did to him, but if not for the Hulk, all those people wouldn’t be dead. None of you killed anyone due to her using her powers on you. Oh, you can say we were blinded by a need for revenge, that we should have been better, that we were stupid to make such deals, believing the wrong people. Still, it doesn’t change the fact you also put yourselves in that situation.”

Pietro looks straight at him, and Wanda follows suit.

He tries not to flinch or fidget.

“Whatever your reason, I’ll always be grateful you saved my life, doctor.”

“As will I,” Wanda says.

“And we can- when Wanda saved Steve, accidentally killing those people in the process, when I wasn’t there to try to help her, Stark did what he thought was best, trying to make the good out of a bad situation. It doesn’t change the fact he worked with the man you hate almost as much, if not more, than us. General Ross.”

Everything inside him goes cold, and he’s vaguely aware of Clint holding Tony back and quietly saying something to him.

“That’s who you’re sleeping with. The general wanted to imprison you, do experiments on you. He took away your chance at marrying, a beautiful wife, children of your own, and made you into a desperate fugitive who, even now, can never escape killing and death and fighting. And Tony wanted to help him imprison, at least, others who didn’t fall in line with him. How long do you think you can go without ever talking about that? Or for someone so brilliant, have you convinced yourself that the general being dead wipes it away?”

Getting up, he walks out.

…

“Why in the hell did Tony program you to- Look, if you want to play, go find Tony or one of the interns. Just give me back my wallet.”

“She’s scared.” Coming in, Tony takes the wallet. “Go get Dr Banner some tea.”

It zooms off, and taking the wallet, he sighs. “I’d ask how it is you keep managing to give robots something akin to actual sentience, but more importantly: Why?”

Tony shrugs. “The number of good decisions I’ve made could fill up a few pages in contrast to the doorstopper that my bad ones would make. I’m not sure Graceless adoring you counts as the latter.”

“What the twins brought up, it’s better we not talk about that.”

“Sure,” Tony says. “We both have such wonderful track records with ignoring and repressing and not communicating with other people. It’s not as if you’re a socially isolated scientist who occasionally turns into a raging green monster and I’m a lonely mess with PTSD.”

“If us being in a relationship doesn’t help your loneliness, I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything more about that than I can about the PTSD.”

“I thought Ross was the best option.”

Scoffing, he turns to a nearby screen.

“What do you consider fair, big guy? That’s, uh, a serious question by the way. In a lot of ways, when Steve and I were arguing, he appealed to emotion. That pissed me off, but the truth is, I’d take that over what you did. Of course, there were others who presented very logical concise arguments against the accords, but I didn’t know any of them on a personal level. You didn’t try that either. No, you left without a word.”

Closing his eyes, he focuses on his breathing.

“I had no idea where you might be. I didn’t know when you left. I didn’t know how you’d left.”

“Good.” He turns around. “You were working with the man who wanted to lock me up and use my blood to do something I vehemently disagreed with. I’d argue it was largely Ross’s fault, but if I was captured and a case was made that I should be locked up for all the people who were killed or injured when I was the Hulk, I could respect and understand him a lot more. But-”

“Yes, you believe very strongly in medical ethics. I didn’t just go, ‘Oh, here’s a rare first edition book, good enough,’!” You’re not the first or last doctor who turned themselves into a test subject, because, you’d determined it was the most ethical action you could take to help others. This isn’t about- It’s not about why Ross wanted you. It’s about me working with him and you never forgiving me for that.”

“Fine,” he says as calmly as he can manage. “I don’t think you can truly understand how much that _hurt_ , Tony. You think that we all need more accountability? Fine. You think that more surveillance in general is the answer? I don’t exactly agree, but I can believe that there are people, including you, who are making such an argument in good faith, and that, yes, there are concrete benefits to go along with the drawbacks. I won’t even pretend that having the twins hauled away would have nagged at my conscience.”

“But you were the person I trusted more than anyone. You were my closest friend. You- I always thought that you saw me. Both me and the other guy, and that you weren’t always afraid or judging me because of him. And then, you made a deal with the person who spent almost a decade trying to lock me up indefinitely and turn me into a human guinea pig to help him lock up other people. Even if those people all deserved it and were given legal representation, a trial, and put some place that had oversight, which wasn’t the case, you still worked with him. You didn’t choose someone else. You didn’t try to get someone else. You worked with him.”

“Right, so, I’m the bad guy,” Tony says.

He rolls his eyes. “If you think you did the right thing, I’m not going to argue with you. It still hurt.”

“And you think you didn’t hurt me?”

“I don’t particularly care,” he answers, and suddenly, he’s afraid he’s going to start crying. “If I hurt you physically, if I somehow put you in danger, I’d be in the wrong. I didn’t leave due to hurt feelings. What was to stop me from thinking that, with you doing all that, Ross wouldn’t convince you that he’d been right all along? That he wouldn’t find a way to go behind your back and get me?”

“I walked out the door without hurting anyone or taking anything. I stayed off the radar. In his mind, I was definitely in the wrong. If you think-” He shakes his head.

“I was afraid he might have done that,” Tony quietly says. “Gotten you. No, you didn’t take anything. No money, no food, I didn’t even know if you had a freaking jacket or long-sleeved shirt! After Thor took Loki, it was a minor miracle you came here instead of disappearing. You tried or Hulk tried to do it again after Ultron was stopped. You know, I hate waking up during the night. If you’re there, it’s fine, but if you’re in the bathroom or the lab, getting a midnight snack, whatever, I panic. I don’t stop to think you’re probably nearby, I’m thinking, ‘Where is he? Is he okay? Did I do something? What if I never see him again?’”

“You know, I’d be a lot more sympathetic if not for-”

“Me working with Ross. Got it.”

“Then, why are we still having this conversation, Tony? I don’t care if you think you were right or wrong. Do you understand that? It hurt, it’s over now. I’m not apologising for leaving. I’m not going to apologise for you being hurt or scared or worried or whatever negative emotions you felt. If you still feel them, I’m- well, I wish you didn’t, but it’s not my job to try to fix that.”

“Were you like this with Betty Ross?”

The question completely throws him. “What? Like what?”

Unfortunately, Tony has the look on his face indicating he’s working something out in his head. This is usually accompanied by rambling, and sometimes, he can follow Tony’s thought process, and sometimes, he imagines he might have an idea how non-scientific people feel when interacting with scientists giving in-depth explanations of scientific concepts and theories.

“You were in love with her. You dropped everything when her kid with another man, her husband, was sick. But was it like pulling teeth for her to figure out what you were thinking? Did you- you loved her, but even with her, did you take the view, hey, I can always be out the door if- given how much you and her both hate Ross for ruining a chance of you and her, I doubt it. But.” Tony rubs his face.

“I was very insecure with her in the beginning, but- Discounting him killing her, my dad wasn’t physically abusive to my mom. He could be a little rough with me, but he never actually crossed that line until that day. But emotionally was a different story. She’d want to talk, she’d beg, and he’d leave, ignoring her crying and pleading. He’d use the silent treatment and guilt trips to get his way. Cut himself down to force her to reassure him.”

Nausea rolls through him. “I was in therapy from the time I moved in with my aunt and uncle until I went on the run. I don’t have the temperament to pursue psychiatry professionally, but it was one of my minors. When things started getting serious between me and Betty, we did couple’s counselling, not because there was anything wrong, but because I didn’t really know how to have a healthy relationship and was determined to never, ever be like my father.”

“I, uh, don’t know if that really answers your question. I’m- really not trying to be like him now. I care for you, Tony, and I’d like it if you were happy, but if you aren’t happy with me, I don’t think that’s fixable. It’s probably best to just end things.”

Tony covers his eyes, and he can feel the other guy nearer to the surface than he has in a long time.

He wants to say something when Tony wipes his eyes, and it’s clear there are tears, but he doesn’t know what to say.

“Why’d you come back then?” Taking a deep breath, Tony continues, “After the accords didn’t happen, after Ross- why’d you come back here?”

There might be a right answer, but he knows, whatever answer he does give, is going to be wrong. “Where else was there to go? Tony- I don’t know what answer you’re going for here. Ross was gone, you asked me to come back, so, I came back.”

“Because, Steve assured you it was safe,” Tony says. “If he hadn’t, you wouldn’t have trusted me. You don’t. You didn’t.”

“If Steve hadn’t, that would have been due to him and you still doing battle. There was no way in hell, if I could possibly avoid it, I was going anywhere near either of you while that conflict was raging. You know me, Tony. I try extremely hard not to get involved in sides when it comes to Avenger disputes, even minor ones. So, you’re kind of right, but- I trust you will always try to do what you believe to be right, and I know that you care about me.”

Part of him is screaming to shut up, another part feels he needs to finish, and then, there’s Hulk raging somewhere inside at all these various parts. “Some day, you might decide that I truly am a dangerous threat that needs to be handled. I’m not going to blame you if that day comes. There are days I feel like that. But I’m also not going to try to pretend that I don’t think such a day might not come.”

Tony’s mouth and hands move, there’s some pacing, and then, Tony is simply walking out.

...

It occurs to him this might not be the best idea, but his default when things go bad is to leave. He doesn’t know how any of the other options would be better in this instance.

He goes to his suite, packs his clothes and glasses in a suitcase, and hesitates when he finds himself looking down at his copy of Dr Sawyer's book.

A strong feeling telling him to take it is there, but eventually, he decides against it.

When he gets over to the door, Jarvis speaks. “Pardon me, Dr Banner, but may I inquire where you’re going?”

“I’m taking my phone. If Tony wants or needs to, he can find me.”

…

Two nights after he leaves, his phone rings.

Rolling over, he groans when he sees _Jarvis._

“Hello?”

“Dr Banner, the Stark jet carrying Sir has been lost.”

“What do you mean lost? Never mind. Alright, look, Jarvis, can you send a car to come get me? I’m assuming you know where I am.”

If Jarvis doesn’t, they’re gonna have a smaller but still relatively big problem than Tony being missing. He isn’t sure where in the hell he is. He’s been trying his best to avoid cameras, despite knowing this is a virtual impossibility in New York, and he’d paid cash for this room in this middle-of-nowhere motel.

“The car should arrive within another five minutes or so.”

“Good. Now, what exactly is going on?”

“There’s a heavy rain and thunderstorm, not caused by His Majesty Thor, son of Odin. Diverting from the planned route would have added another three hours to Sir’s trip, and he refused to divert the jet.”

Closing his eyes, he curses.

When he opens them, the car has arrived.

He gets in. “Is- is Tony still alive?”

“Unknown. After Sir returned from his kidnapping in Afghanistan, he installed a microchip tracker connected directly to me within himself. I’m not currently registering him, but this isn’t the first time the signal has been lost.”

“Oh, well, that’s comforting. What about the jet itself?”

“Before I lost contact and the sensors went off-line, I received data suggesting it made extreme impact with an unmoving object or force.”

Right, and of course, Tony absolutely refuses to wear his seatbelt on his private jets.

“Assuming the jet landed somewhere, what are the possibilities for where it might have?” Please, please, please, don’t have an ocean be one of them, he prays.

It turns out, the most likely possibility is on an island, and though far from ideal, this would be somewhat hopeful if not for the fact the storm is still raging.

“Jarvis-” He rubs his eyes against the tension headache brewing. “Do I still have authorisation to access Veronica?”

“Yes, Dr Banner.”

“Okay. Look, Jarvis, I don’t know if you’re truly sentient or not. If you are, there’s a very good chance you aren’t going to like or agree with some of what I’m about to do, but Tony isn’t here to challenge this, and I know how to activate your kill-switch. There are certain things I know you’d allow your own destruction to prevent, but if there’s any chance at all Tony can be brought back, I suggest you comply with anything that doesn’t fall within those parameters.”

“What do you require, Dr Banner?”

“I need Veronica to destroy all of Tony’s other suits, starting with Colonel Rhodes’s. If he’s in it, find a way to disable it without harming him, get him out, and then, destroy it. And I need the specs on all Stark owned aircrafts.”

“You are attempting to ensure none of the other Avengers risk themselves trying to save Mister Stark?”

“Yes. And Pepper. Especially her, but I’m still working on that. More than anything, I want him to be okay and to be brought back, Jarvis, but the world’s already possibly lost him. I’m not letting anymore of them-” He rubs his temples.

“Dr Banner, in the event of Sir’s death or incapacitation, all decisions and assets regarding Stark Industries and all of Sir’s personal property not specifically bequeathed to others in his will are to be divided between you and Miss Potts. Complete control over Stark Industries will go to her, but Mister Stark’s personal bank accounts and most of his belongings not tied into the company will go to you.”

“Does Pepper- This is the sort of thing Tony should have told me, had a discussion about, instead of just doing. It’s something- Never mind, I’m going to find him, and he can fix this then.”

And if, he shudders at the thought, Tony is dead, then, he’ll find a way to fix it, but, and he finds himself praying again, please, let him be okay and come back home.

“So, I could just order all suits but Veronica to be disabled? Including Colonel Rhodes’s?”

“Yes, Dr Banner. Legal ownership of Iron Patriot is held by a combination of Colonel Rhodes and the United States government, but there are provisions allowing Mister Stark to override Colonel Rhodes’s control and take it for himself.”

“Do it. Just, make sure it’s done without harm to Colonel Rhodes.”

“It’s done.”

“Now, about the aircrafts...”

…

One of the robots wraps around his leg.

He manages to kneel down. “Hey, uh, Graceless, right?”

He’s never heard a chirp quite like this one.

“It’ll be okay. I’m going to bring Tony back soon, I promise.”

It unwraps from around him.

“The jet will land on the roof in two minutes, and the Maximoff twins have just entered the building.”

“Yes,” Pietro agrees. He steps around one of the other robots. “We’re here. What is going on, doctor? Natasha and Clint are suddenly very-”

Catching Pietro before he hits the floor, he lowers him down and waits.

“Is his sister heading this way?”

“Yes,” Jarvis answers. “And the jet has landed.”

He waits.

“Pietro!” Wanda rushes over, and the robot injects her, too.

Picking them up, he straps them onto two of the medical lab’s gurneys. When more robots come in, he hesitates. The cryogenic chamber is underneath Stark Tower, and it’ll take precious time to deliver them himself, but-

“Dr Banner, despite Sir’s less than flattering names for them and his constant complaints about them, most Stark robots are highly competent. They will ensure the Maximoff twins are safely contained until it’s time to bring them back out.”

“If there are any interns or employees around, try to avoid them. I don’t want people drawing conclusions about certain things. And make sure the cryogenic chamber is heavily guarded and monitored.”

The robots are wheeling the two out just as Clint, Romanov, and Steve enter.

Going for something in his pocket, Clint demands, “What in the hell did you do, doc?”

Natasha stills his movements. “They were breathing. Sedation. Where are they going might be the better question.”

Heading to the elevator, he says, “You can get them out after I’m up in the air.”

He knows Steve doesn't completely understand some of the more scientific aspects of it, but he knows almost as much about cryo as the experts do. Once cryogenic stasis begins, it takes an hour to complete and can’t safely be interrupted. Bringing a person out takes three hours and can’t safely be interrupted.

Steve will make sure Romanov and Clint don't try to interrupt either process out of desperation and worry.

They follow him into the elevator.

“Where are you going,” Steve quietly asks. “We need to-”

The doors open.

“If you can find a ride, you can do whatever you want, but I’m the only one with access to Stark aircrafts.”

“No. Tony gave all of us...”

Tuning Steve out and heading for the jet, he suddenly finds Natasha standing in front of him. “We can’t stop you. That doesn’t mean you’re going about this the right way.”

“You wouldn’t just burn down the world for Clint. This is no different.”

Moving past her, he gets on the jet, sees Veronica standing behind one of the glass holding containers, and takes his seat.

Putting his seatbelt on, he closes his eyes.

Hey, he finds himself thinking. I hate you, and I think you probably feel the same about me. But you once saved Tony, Iron Man, and he’s in trouble again. If he’s alive, I have the better chance of helping him. Please, if you end up coming out, let me come back soon so that I can.

He continues directing his thoughts towards the other guy until Jarvis says, “We will be approaching the storm soon, Dr Banner. Now would be a good time to change.”

Getting his Faraday suit on and preparing his medical kit, he goes over to Veronica. “Wait for me to give the order until putting yourself on him. Unless Hulk appears. Then, get on him as fast as you can.”

“It would be best to return to your seat and put on your seatbelt, Dr Banner,” Jarvis says.

He does.

“Dr Banner, what about the jet that was carrying Sir? Sentimental belongings within might be undamaged-”

“Seriously? Jarvis, the jet doesn’t matter. Whatever is inside it, unless Tony is, doesn’t matter. I’m sorry if he lost something, but setting aside the fact this is sort of his fault, no material item is worth a human life. Once the storm clears, if he wants to send a clean up crew, he can.”

“With all due respect, Dr Banner, you were willing to put yourself in potential danger to get to your book.”

“That was stupid and wrong of me. But I think you know that humans don’t always apply sincerely held beliefs to their own conduct.”

“Yes, I have observed that. Do you believe the Maximoff twins will pose a threat to the other Avengers if neither you or Mister Stark come back?”

Aside from Jarvis, even safely encased inside, rain, thunder, and lightning fill almost all of his senses.

“Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver- They’re always going to be dangerous. Hopefully, if they become a danger to the world again, the others can stop them. I think the affection and empathy the others have for them would make it incredibly hard to do what’s needed in such an event, but in the end, the Avengers are heroes.”

“Including you, Dr Banner?”

“No,” he answers. “I’m just- I can be useful on occasion.”

“Including Mister Stark?”

“Yeah, Tony’s a real hero.”

“I’m not sure you’ll agree once certain facts are given. Sir built what others would likely conclude is a flaw within the Stark cryogenic chambers. In the event a person is deemed to fit a high enough threat level, the person will peacefully die before revival can be performed.”

Rubbing his eyes, he mutters, “Oh, Tony.” He takes a deep breath. “Tony might cross too big a line someday, Jarvis, but right now, even though he thinks he already has, he hasn’t.”

“The determination of a person’s threat level-”

He suddenly realises what the point of this conversation is.

“No.” He takes out his phone. “Jarvis, if I don’t come back, you or Tony have 24 hours to get the twins safely brought out. If they aren’t, everyone is going to know it wasn’t an overlooked flaw. If they are, the information won’t come out. As for me, even if I could get the determination made their threat level is high enough, I’m not going to kill two unconscious people.”

Rubbing his eyes, he adds, “I have death on my hands, but I’m not a cold-blooded murderer.”

“We’re approaching the island, Dr Banner. I’ve begun scanning.”

He focuses on his breathing.

“I’ve located the jet and the element contained in Sir’s reactor. However, I’m not picking up his vitals. That could be due to numerous things other than death.”

“Is it safe to land?”

“There are risks, but I believe it can be managed. I’ll land as close to the reactor as I can.”

Taking off his own seatbelt, he watches as Veronica’s glass is raised.

“Veronica would provide you some protection against the elements, Dr Banner.”

“No. If the other guy starts to come out with it on me, that could break it.” He looks at Veronica. “Stand by for if Tony needs you.”

The doors open, and getting his flashlight and medikit, he goes out and finds himself almost curling up in a ball at the onslaught of hard, heavy rain.

Then, he sees Tony lying nearby, and rushing over, he’s relieved to see Tony is clearly breathing, though unconscious. He realises Tony is also wearing a Faraday suit.

“Thank you,” he mutters. “Thank you.”

Carefully doing an examination, he concludes Tony is safe to be moved. “Veronica, come.”

The suit places itself on Tony. “Fly him back to the jet. Try to avoid lightning.”

Veronica begins floating Tony towards the jet, and-

He never wanted to know what a lightning strike felt like.

When the pain recedes, he’s lying naked in the mud next to the jet.

“Dr Banner, please, wake up,” Jarvis’s distant voice says. “Veronica is refusing to detach from Mister Stark to come to you. You need to call her.”

Despite the door being opened, he sees no water is getting inside the interior of the jet.

Taking a shaky breath, he begins crawling.

The first lightening strike had only been a little worse than this one.

Keep moving, he tells himself.

Then, he’s watching the door close.

“Plotting a course back to Stark Tower. Dr Banner...”

…

Gasping, he feels his heart pounding, and concentrating on his breathing, he begins to hear the sound of a heart monitor machine decreasing and smells sharp disinfectants and the subtle scent of perfume.

“Dr Banner,” a calm voice is saying, “are you with me?”

Looking over, he sees a middle-aged woman in scrubs. She smiles. “Dr Banner, I’m Dr Louisa Fletcher. You’re in Stark Tower. Are you with me?”

Groaning, he carefully begins moving his limbs. “Yes, I’m here. Tony? Tony Stark, what about him?”

“He’s threatening to have me disbarred and steal my tortoise,” she wryly answers. “He’s been very worried about you, and my pointing out he is not a medical doctor and needed to stay out of the way for the time being hasn’t gone over well.”

Taking in the flowers, gifts, and cards sitting on a nearby table along with Graceless sitting in a corner, he repeats, “He threatened to steal your tortoise.”

“Well, I’m unmarried, don’t have any human children, and my parents disowned me when I was sixteen. No siblings. Really, his only options are Cecilia or my best friend, and my best friend is a nun, so.” Coming over, she begins taking his pulse. “He’s fine, Dr Banner. He had a concussion, some bruises, and is developing a cold, but he suffered no serious damage.”

“Cecilia’s part of the reason I’m here, actually.” She begins examining him. “I’m a paediatrician based in Vermont, but yesterday, he called to call in a favour. Thirteen years ago, Happy, Happy Hogan, was in my neighbourhood, and he found Cecilia on the road. She’d been hit by a car. Most of the damage sustained was to her shell. Mister Stark express shipped a 3D-printed shell to her vet along with notes and videos.”

“Sorry,” he offers. “For Tony doing this now.”

“I’m not. One of my patients is in love with the Statute of Liberty with plans to move here someday. I plan to get a picture of it for my office. Now, the doctors who were here before...”

…

Everything finally settles when some of the others come in.

“Tony.”

They’re hugging, and keeping his hand on the back of Tony’s neck, he closes his eyes and takes in the feel and scent of him. “Make any quips about me being dramatic- you’ll always have more of a claim to that than I will.”

Tony gives a ragged laugh. “I’m gone for less than 24 hours, and you almost get yourself stranded on an island during a lightning storm.”

Hearing the undercurrents and rolling his eyes, he lets go. “If I wanted to do that, I could have just ordered Jarvis to leave once you were safely aboard.”

“Oh, but you haven’t thought about it at all!”

“You just brought it up, Tony. No, until now, I hadn’t. I was too busy trying to get you back home. In part so that I could explain, in detail, how I was wrong about Spritz. He isn’t the most idiotic person with above-average intelligence on the planet. No, that honour goes to you.”

A more genuine laugh spills out of Tony, and he sits down next to the bed.

He looks over at the others.

Steve smiles. “Welcome back, doc.”

“You’re a close runner up,” Natasha comments.

“Yeah, that’s fair. Are the twins okay?” He glances at Tony. “No flaws in the cryogenic chamber?”

“They’ve been safely brought out,” Steve answers, but he's too focused on the look Tony directs him to pay much attention to Steve talking about what all this entailed.

“Good. Whatever my issues with them, I wouldn’t want anyone unfortunately dying while inside. Maybe you better recheck the machines before we put anyone else in, Tony. As impressive as they are, with how hastily they were built, there’s always a chance something was missed.”

“Right,” Tony quietly says. “I’ll get right on that.”

Steve gives him a sympathetic look. “It sounds like you might be finally coming around. Obviously, none of us like what you did, but Wanda and Pietro aren’t going to hold this against you. The risk you took, you didn’t take it just to keep them out of the way. You were trying to protect them along with the rest of us.”

He starts to protest, but- “Maybe. Look, it’s great to see you all, but I’m tired. Can I have a moment alone with Tony? Then, I’m going to rest.”

…

Once Steve and Natasha are gone, he links his fingers through Tony’s. “Keeping the others away?”

“Both Pepper and Rhodey want to have some very strong, stern words with you.”

He chuckles. Then, letting go of the hand, he says, “Uh, I know you and I obviously have some issues to work out, but I, um, was wondering if you’d do me a favour, Tony. And- well, part of that involves you helping me with something.”

“Sure. Anything,” Tony says.

“You wouldn’t happen to own a deserted island, would you? One that you could quickly leave if necessary?”

Tony studies him.

Trying not to sigh, he says, “You’re never losing the title of most idiotic human genius of planet Earth. The only way that’s going away is if someone else happens to blow up the planet. But- I survived because the other guy appeared. The first lightning strike would have killed most people. He came, got me near the jet, and left. The second wasn’t as severe, but it made me weak enough he could have come. He didn’t, though, because, earlier, I asked him not to. Made my case.”

“So, maybe, you’re right. We don’t know much about him except for the fact he’s an incredible danger and isn’t going anywhere. And now, I kind of- owe him. If I willingly turn the reins over when there’s no threat, I have no idea what might happen. So, I don’t care how Hulk-resistant a room or building is, I can’t do this unless I’m sure no innocent person is at-risk.”

“I have several ideas,” Tony says.

…

It turns out the Australian Wildlife Reservation has some governmental sway, and they get permission for a large section of Australian desert to be sectioned off.

“Hey, Jarvis. We all clear?”

“Yes, sir. You and Dr Banner are the only mammals present, and there are no nearby land vehicles or aircrafts.”

“And you know what to do if any vehicle starts to get close?”

“Yes, sir. If necessary, I will manually redirect them. If they are too low-tech for this to be an option or a person wanders near on foot, I will immediately alert you.”

“You aren’t going to hurt anyone, Bruce,” Tony assures him.

He can’t help the doubts he has. “Put Veronica on.”

Tony does.

Stripping down and closing his eyes, he thinks, _If you want to come out, you can._

…

He’s lying on the ground in a different place than where he was standing.

“Hey, welcome back.”

“Why isn’t Veronica on you?”

“You came back.” Tony offers his hand.

Accepting it, he stands. “How’d it go?”

“Interesting.” Tony hands him his clothes. “Watching the footage will do a better job than me trying to explain it.”

…

“Is this poisoned?”

Looking over, he sees Wanda has entered the lab, and Graceless is holding up the plate of cookies Tony left earlier.

Grabbing the last nutmeg one, he answers, “No.”

She takes one. “I came to talk to you.”

“Stand over there.” He points. “And put on a lab coat and safety goggles. I’m working on a dye pack. It won’t hurt you, but you’ll have a hell of a time getting the dye off if it goes off.”

Graceless holds out shower caps.

He waves it away, but pulling her hair into a loose bun, Wanda puts one on along with the coat and goggles.

Resuming his work, he asks, “About what?”

“You’ve been deliberately unleashing the Hulk in Australia with Stark. Clint told me and Pietro. Last year, you asked if I could go into your mind and destroy Hulk. I said no, but if you were willing, I might be able to help you better understand him by using my abilities to directly communicate with him.”

Unsure how to feel and what to think, he considers this.

“I wouldn’t try to control him or you. Doctor, whatever my intentions, I hold culpability for Johannesburg, but my intentions were never for innocent people to die. I believed stopping the Avengers was the right thing to do, and if you all suffered in the process, I would have been glad, though that wasn’t the intention either. I knew about the Hulk, but I never stopped to think messing with your mind would- I don’t know how hearing this will make you feel, but I don’t believe what happened is something the Hulk would have ever done on his own. My abilities caused him to lose any sort of control and morality he holds.”

“I wish I could believe that,” he says.

“Why don’t you?”

“I’ll consider your offer.”

“Tony working with Ross-”

“Change the subject, or leave,” he firmly orders.

She leaves.

…

Wanda’s the only one who tries to approach the subject of him and Tony, and he knows, if he doesn’t make an effort soon, there’s a high chance there will be an even more hurtful argument in the future.

He doesn’t make the effort.

When he sleeps, it’s in his own bed. There’s still physical contact between him and Tony, but there’s no kisses, holding hands, or sex. Tony’s upped his flirting with others back to the level it was before they started their relationship, but whether he’s sleeping with or has slept with anyone else, he doesn’t know.

Tony’s taken to having conversations with the other guy, and the footage shows Tony is trying to get the other guy to stop hating him (Bruce).

The other guy is about as keen to do this as he is to stop hating him.

Then, one day, Tony decides to come out of Veronica for his weekly Hulk conversation, and he’s fine, but-

“It was my choice.”

“You don’t just need a new therapist, you need to be committed. How many times are you going to make stupid, dangerous choices that jeopardise the health and well-being of everyone, including yourself, before your luck and theirs runs out, Tony? Do you honestly not stop to think, are you lacking empathy, or do you like getting so close to the edge?”

“He didn’t show any signs of even wanting to hurt me.”

“I’d say he might next week, but-”

“There isn’t going to be a next week. There’s a surprise, isn’t there? He’s growing. He’s learning, developing emotionally, starting to respond to situations without violence. You could take a lesson or two from him.”

“I’m not a violent person.”

Tony scoffs. “You know, I’d choose you over him every time, but the truth is, Bruce, sometimes, I like him better than you.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Oh? So, uh, you’re not even going to ask why?”

“I have a feeling I’m going to regret this, but why, Tony, do you like the murderous, inhuman monster over me?”

“There’s an honesty to him,” Tony quietly says.

“I’m also not a liar.”

“Look, I’m sorry for working with Ross! I regret it every day of my life, but that therapy you don’t think is doing me much, if any, good, it turns out, if you hurt someone and they hurt you back, your feelings are still valid. Agree or disagree?”

“Of course, I agree. I’ve never said otherwise, and if you’ve gotten the impression I’ve implied it, that wasn't my intention. But pretending you’re sorry about something you’re not doesn’t strike me as a good thing to do. Hurting someone doesn’t give them the right to hurt you back, but-” Taking off his glasses, he shakes his head. “What exactly do you want me to be sorry for, Tony?”

“Nothing.”

He concentrates on making his expression sceptical.

Tony takes a deep breath. “Sometimes, I do lack empathy. There are times I’ve been the type of bully Steve hates. I do stupid, dangerous things for a variety of reasons, some more sympathetic and understandable than others. You know, originally, I was going to get you an electric razor for Christmas, because, you mentioned how you always tried to find someone to shave your face for you due to the fact, when you tried, you had a tendency to cut yourself.”

Wishing the world would occasionally make just a little bit more sense, he says, “As much as I love the book, that would have been a great present.”

“I think about the fact Betty Ross got to know how you felt, and I’m jealous. I want that. I don’t tend to like overly-stoical people.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” he dryly comments. “You like trying to get underneath their skin well enough, though.”

“Yeah. I do,” Tony agrees. “But she got to see when you were happy and sad and angry. You told her your thoughts and opinions on things other than science and the trivial, and even that, even the trivial stuff, it took a long time before you made a habit of that with me.”

An expression that causes physical pain in him crosses Tony’s face. “More than that, I genuinely admire her strength, Bruce. She went years without knowing where you were and how you were doing. But- you didn’t deliberately do that to her. Me? Whether you mean it or not, there is always a threat of you walking out the door, and short of breaking major felonies, violating human rights, doing things that would have you furious and disgusted with me, I can’t know that you’re safe. I can take a pretty safe guess you’re not happy, but I wouldn’t even know if you were.”

“Tony-”

“I don’t know if you’re hungry, subsisting on the bare minimum, or sleeping in an actual bed, if you’re cold or too hot. If-” Tony hesitates. “If you’re going to put another gun in your mouth. So, I get to try to guess how you’re feeling all the time, and I get to worry that you’ll be gone before I can figure out why and try to fix it, and I get to worry about worrying about all of the above.”

“I warned you I wasn’t in a good place to be a boyfriend.”

He winces. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t a good response. Look, Tony, I’m genuinely sorry I’ve caused all this in you. I never realised I was. But I- I have no idea what I should do. Help me out here?”

Tony’s shoulders slump. “I don’t know. Hulk, if he’s mad at me, he’ll try to smash me. I’d just rather deal with that than always wondering if you’re mad and knowing, if you are, I could lose you forever. I know the risks of being smashed. I-I don’t know how I could handle it if I did lose you.”

Before he can figure out how to respond, there’s a knock on the glass, and Natasha’s sticking her head in the lab. “Boys. One of the interns called Pepper to tell her you two might be fighting. They heard screaming but were too afraid to get near enough to look inside. She has an important meeting, so, I told her I’d come over. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Tony says. “It’s over.”

She looks between them. “You two need therapy.”

“We’re both already in therapy,” he says.

“Couple’s therapy, then,” she replies before reclosing the door and walking away.

…

They start couple’s therapy.

He doesn’t see things ending well, but he does try.

Betty used to have the same complaint as Tony about him not being emotionally open, and he vaguely remembers his mother used to worry about the same thing. He just doesn’t know how to be any other way. He says something when he has something to say, and telling someone he’s feeling a certain emotion simply to be telling them has always been something of a foreign concept.

Tony asks a lot of questions about Betty and his former relationship with her.

One night, when they’re having dinner in the Avenger’s kitchen, he tries to explain, “I don’t know how exactly Betty and I got to such a point. But I was a different person back then. If Betty, the person she was back then or the one she is now, assuming the one she is now was still single and didn’t have a kid, met the me I am now, she and I never would have happened. In that way, you’ve gotten further than she and I ever would.”

“What would you have done if she’d taken her dad’s side?”

“She was very much against me being locked up and experimented on, but at first, she genuinely believed that, if the three of us talked, we could get him to back off. I did do an incredibly reckless and stupid thing in injecting myself, and even if nothing had gone wrong and I’d had a revolutionary breakthrough, she still would have been furious and told me what an idiot I was.”

“And you weren’t angry about that?”

“No, of course not."

There’s silence, and then, Tony says, “I did and I didn’t think of you. When I met with Ross. I knew you wouldn’t be happy, and whatever the reason, I didn’t think much further than that. Didn’t delve into the thought. You know, I do feel, to some extent, my mental state can be used as an excuse. I was a complete mess. Guilt, anxiety, insomnia, I literally felt like I couldn’t breathe.”

“But only to some extent,” Tony continues. “I just wanted what I’ve been wanting for years, to give the world peace. To, at least, move it a little closer. And I keep screwing that up. For years, I was against governmental interference, and maybe, with that, Ultron wouldn’t have happened. We all, all but you, screwed up with Wanda. She wasn’t ready to be in such a situation, especially without Pietro, but everyone but you decided she was. So, I thought if I did something different- That didn’t work, either.”

Seeing Tony’s finished his food, he goes over, kneels down, and wraps around him.

Wrapping a hand around one of his wrists, Tony trembles.

Gently manoeuvring and tugging, he gets them settled on one of the couches in the living room.

He concentrates on the feeling of Tony against him, and he remembers, once on the SHIELD helicarrier, Tony had literally dragged him out of the lab due to wanting to watch a movie with someone.

‘What? You’re the best option,’ Tony had said. ‘SHIELD has the power to arrest me, Point Break talks too much, and since Loki is officially a prisoner, there are probably mandates in place against torture. And unlike everyone else who could and, lets face it, probably would attempt grievous bodily harm, you’re not going to do anything. I highly doubt a mindless Sylvester Salone movie is going to trigger Hulk’s appearance, but you never know, he might be taking notes inside. Now, how do you like your popcorn?’

Tony had talked through most of the movie about Pepper and threatened to smear his greasy hands on the tablet he was trying to read if he didn’t also eat the popcorn.

‘You can pick the movie next time,’ Tony’d said after it was over.

As far as he was concerned, there wasn’t going to be a next time, but two nights later, he’d ended up falling asleep to Gone With the Wind, Tony’s choice when he’d refused, playing.

He doesn’t know why this memory has suddenly popped up.

What he does know is- “I should have talked you.”

Tony jumps slightly.

He rubs Tony's arms, and Tony settles back against him.

“For one thing, I should have talked to you after Ultron was defeated. I didn’t pay much attention to your- to the fact you were suffering.” Tony starts to say something, and he says, “Let me finish. I should have been a better friend. We were all suffering.”

And the truth is, he’d resented Tony and been angry at him for not letting Hulk go off in the quinjet and hopefully crash into some heavily isolated mountain or island. Being told the man who’d help attack them, the brother of the woman who’d put the blood of Johannesburg on his hands, was dying and needed him, of all people, to save him-

This needs to be brought up, he knows, but he doesn’t think now is a good time.

“But besides that, when you and Ross started to happen, I should have talked to you instead of just trying to disappear. You and Steve were fighting, but me and you, we’ve usually managed to have difficult discussions without it getting to that. I knew you weren’t going to let Ross hurt or take me, but I was still scared and angry and felt so betrayed. I still should have remembered that you were my friend, that you’d been a damn good one to me, and that you’d, at least, listen.”

“We were both too screwed up to handle it the right way,” Tony mumbles. He yawns. “I need to get to bed.”

He doesn’t want the closeness to end, and so, he asks, “Want some company?”

Tony wraps his hand around Tony's wrist. “For sleep sounds wonderful, big guy. You don’t know how much I’ve missed having you next to me. But I’m not up to sex right now.”

“Yeah, neither am I.”

They go up to Tony’s room, and after brushing their teeth, Tony strips down to his underwear, and he changes into one of Tony’s t-shirts.

After laying down and half-dozing to the sound of his ambient noises, he suddenly finds his arms wrapped around Tony, and feeling Tony’s warm, strong body pressed against him and taking in the familiar smell, he suddenly finds himself afraid, because, he desperately, painfully wants this for the rest of his life, but- there are no guarantees, and Betty was the only person he could have ever been called a decent boyfriend to, and he’s terrified he’s going to lose this, lose Tony, sooner rather than later.

“Are you alright, Dr Banner?”

He has his feet on the floor before he remembers: Him automatically leaving is part of their problems.

“If I read my tablet in bed, will that wake him?”

“Unlikely. Sir is a rather heavy sleeper most of the time.”

“Can you have one of the robots bring my tablet to me?”

Graceless does, and he reads until he’s ready to sleep. At one point, Tony rolls towards him, cracks his eyes open, and then, promptly falls right back to sleep.

…

Tony’s bidding war against Bruce Wayne isn’t going so well.

“He’s cheating,” Tony insists.

“Tony, why do you even want- You know that, if he gets it, he’s donating it to charity. If you do, you’re donating it to charity. Unless you have some problem with the charity of his choice-”

“Same charity,” Tony mutters. “That isn’t the point, my Bruce. The point is, I don’t like him or Wayne Industries or his habit of dressing up like-”

Looking around the lab, he urges, “Careful, Tony.”

His support of Peter aside, Tony has never particularly liked or even fully grasped the concept of superheroes having secret identities. He’s even gone so far as to try to sic Thor on Superman a few times, though, that could be more because Superman has an either unlucky or lucky habit of often being off the planet when threats such as Loki and Ultron strike.

Rolling his eyes, Tony jabs at the computer. “Oh, by the way, my least favourite Daily Planet journalist has a baby cousin who’s been flying around-”

“Sir, Dr Banner has a private package.”

Graceless comes in with a small brown package in tow.

“I tried to stop her, sir, but she refused to listen.”

Confused, he takes the package. “It’s been scanned and sniffed?”

“Yes, Dr Banner, but perhaps, you should open it in private.”

“Fine with me, but I’m not leaving- no, how can he do that, I know for a fact he had that money reserved for...”

Turning the package over, he sees it’s from Betty. He wonders if this is the reason for Jarvis’s reaction, but he’s not sure why it would be. He and Betty have written several letters to one another, and Tony never reads them, but he does know about the correspondence.

Opening the package, he feels his breath catch.

“Bruce? Hey, what is-”

Holding it up to be sure, he says, “It’s my old engagement ring. After all these years, she must have- somehow.”

On the shank reads _Robert Bruce Banner & Elizabeth Ross binded by everlasting love._

“My uncle gave it to me after I proposed to her. We had it inscribed.”

“What happened to it?”

“The other guy,” he answers. “The very first time- I felt something happening, and I instinctively took off my ring. I knew, if I didn’t, it wouldn’t survive. But after I came back, neither of us could find it anywhere. Ross claimed to not know anything about it. I don’t know if that was the truth or not.”

Picking up the letter attached, he quickly reads it.

“Does it still fit?”

“I don’t know.” Carefully sealing it in a test tube, he says, “I’m going to go put this in my safe.”

…

He’s helping an intern when Tony comes in. “Wrap it up, you’re my new guinea pig.”

“I thought we were going to lunch after you were through with your conference call.”

“We are, but first, guinea pig duty calls, big guy.”

Seeing the intern’s horrified look, he quickly assures her, “Mister Stark isn’t going to almost blow up the building again.” Taking off his glasses, he looks pointedly at Tony. “Right? You aren’t going to-”

“I caused some minor structural instability on one floor, but no, nothing is going to be blown up or- Not that it’s any of this one’s business, but Pepper’s birthday is coming up, and so, I’m experimenting with adjustable jewellery and fabrics. I thought I’d try making a watch you and Hulk can share while I’m at it.”

“Alright, well, give us about ten minutes.”

Tony nods. “Why does no one bring up the time you almost dissolved the building?”

“You mean the time one of your robots added things they weren’t supposed to, to my experiment without my knowledge or consent?”

“Fair enough.” Tony starts to leave, and he doesn’t know why he does it, but he grabs Tony’s hand and pulls him down for a quick kiss.

The intern looks unsurprised, and Tony looks breathtakingly, vulnerably happy.

…

Mulan meows irritably when Tony's arrival interrupts the robots grooming him.

“Adding pet stylist to your side veterinary practise?”

“And kennel. Uh, the Kasems are attending an out-of-state funeral.”

“He’s not going to sleep with us, is he?”

Mulan’s meow is just short of horrified.

“No. He has his own bed, and he’s going to sleep in here with Butterfingers and them.” He gestures to the other robots. “I’ve already told Jarvis to make sure the lab is securely locked when we’re not in it. He has a litter box, and I’ll take him outside for a few minutes every day.”

“I’m throwing Pepper’s party at my house. Will he be gone by then?”

“Yeah, they’re only going to be gone for the week.”

Sitting down, Tony starts working on a holographic chart.

“Hey, do you ever miss Malibu? Your home there?” He feels uneasy bringing the subject up, but sometimes, he gets the feeling Tony does. In the past, he would have taken the attitude of: Tony is a grown man who can and will do whatever he wants or feels the need to do. This attitude, however, is only good to a certain extent, their counsellor has made clear.

Tony continues working on the chart, but he can tell by Tony's eye movements that he’s trying to form what he considers the best response in his head. Finally, he waves the chart away. “Sometimes.”

“Then, why don’t you go back more often?”

“You’re here.” Tony glares when Mulan starts chewing on a pen.

Finding one of Mulan’s toys, he trades it for the pen. “I’m not going anywhere, Tony. I promise.”

“I’m not worried about that. I mean, okay, maybe, that’s still a work in progress, but in this instance, I’m not. I- I wouldn’t get to see you as much if I were in Malibu. I like being so near you.”

“If you wanted, we could both stay there after Pepper’s party. Try it out. It’d probably be best for me to keep some of my stuff here for right now, but if things work out, maybe, we could talk about me officially moving in.”

“That’d be great,” Tony says with a soft, bright smile.

…

After Pepper’s party, he and Tony get involved in developing a new formula for repelling dangerous germs from objects before they can be transferred to people.

It’s a long, hard process, and one afternoon, he realises they’ve both been up for almost 72 hours straight and consisting on caffeinated drinks and snack foods.

They sit down to have some proper food, and Tony eats slower than him. After his shower, he simply slips on a pair of underwear, crashes on the bed, and muddily takes note of the fact he’s on Tony’s side of the bed.

He decides he’ll move when Tony comes in.

A similarly dressed Tony comes, and he’s trying to get the energy to move when Tony crawls into his side of the bed. Curling close with his head half-resting on his arm and half-on the pillow, Tony kisses his chest.

He can feel them both falling asleep.

…

“Hi, Dr Banner,” Bree greets.

“Hi, sweetheart. Is your mom there?”

“Mama, it’s your Dr Banner!”

He hears Betty coming, and Bree asks, “Popcorn?”

“I don’t think Mama’s going to yell at him, angel. Wait, why, did he say something?”

“Kinda sounds like it,” Bree answers.

Betty fully takes the phone. “Bruce, I swear, if you’ve done something else- Glenn’s taking us out to dinner tonight. You know that he and Bree don’t eat very well if they have snacks before.”

“And it’s my fault your husband and daughter like to eat popcorn while you’re yelling at me?”

“It’s your fault for giving them a reason.”

In the background, he vaguely hears said husband and daughter conversing.

“I promise I haven’t done anything. Um, I called to ask- back when we were dating, when you first realised you wanted to marry me, what did you do?”

“I asked how you felt about the subject of marriage. Bruce, are you and Tony getting married?”

“No.”

“But,” she gently asks.

“I don’t know what to do.”

Her soft chuckle fills the phone. “Bruce, when we were on the hospital roof, did you know then you were in love with him?”

“No. I refused to let myself dwell on my attraction to him.”

“Well, I knew then he was in love with you,” she quietly says. “I don’t know how he feels about marriage, but if you want forever with him, you need to tell him. I told you, and even though things didn’t turn out the way either of us hoped and wanted at the time, I treasure the time we did have. Don’t waste the time you could have with him.”

“Right. Thanks, Betty. Look, he’s probably going to be back from his flight soon. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“Okay. Take care of yourself.”

“You, too. And take care of Bree and Glenn.”

A few minutes after they hang up, Tony comes back in, and he sighs when he notices the paint on the Iron Man suit.

“They started it,” Tony says as the suit detaches and flies back down to the lab. Flopping down next to him on the couch, he asks, “How’s Dr Talbot and her little vampire doing?”

“Good. They’re all going out to dinner tonight.”

“You didn’t do anything to make her yell, did you?”

Chuckling, he answers, “No.”

“Speaking of dinner, I flew over this kiosk in-”

“I love you.”

Sitting up fully, Tony turns to look at him. “Because I flew over a kiosk?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s the only reason.”

Tony kisses him. “Enough that you think you might want to spend the rest of my life with me?”

He nods. “That’s exactly what I want, Tony.”

Letting out a breath, Tony kisses him again. “I love you, too, Bruce.”

…

He’s starts trying to figure out the best way to approach the subject of marriage. He knows, at one point, Tony had planned to propose to Pepper, but he’s not sure why it never happened.

Part of him is scared about what will happen if Tony doesn’t believe in marriage or just doesn’t find him to be marriage material. It could change their relationship, possibly for the best, yes, but also possibly for the worst.

Another part of him simply isn’t sure how he should go about it. With Betty, the subject had more-or-less organically come up, and they’d talked extensively about it before he’d kneeled down with a ring.

Before he can figure it out, however, a few days after their first ‘I love yous’, Tony comes into the lab. “Hey, when you have a minute, I want to talk to you about something.”

Recording the last of the data, he locks the samples up. “I’m listening.”

Tony comes over, and they share a kiss before he sits down. “How’s your watch doing?”

He looks down at the adjustable watch Tony made for him. It expands to fit the other guy and shrinks back to fit him when he comes back. “Good. Do you want to do some more testing on it?”

“The last time he came out, and there was about fifteen minutes of footage missing?”

“Yeah, did you ever find out why there was a malfunction?”

“There wasn’t one. I did that.”

He stares. “What did he do?”

“Nothing. Why do you always assume-”

“Then, why did you delete the footage and lie about it?”

“I didn’t. The footage was transferred, and I didn’t technically-”

“Tony.”

Looking away, Tony starts playing with a pen. “There was a private conversation. You can watch it, but at the time- It was a private conversation.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me then that you removed the footage, because, you talked about something you didn’t want me to know about?”

Tony gives him an annoyed look. “How do you know that it wasn’t private on his end?”

“I don’t,” he acknowledges. “Look, I watch the footage, because, personal feelings aside, the other guy is a fascinating scientific study when he’s not smashing innocent people and their property, but adding personal feelings, I don’t care what his thoughts and feelings are. As long as he’s not hurting people, that’s all I strictly need to know.”

“It wasn’t just the watch. I like Hulk, but I wouldn’t want to marry him. But it has the potential to be a complicated situation. I don’t know if he could fall in love someday. He might find a nice- what exactly is the proper classification for him?”

“You’re rambling, Tony. And sorry to say it, but if a situation like that ever comes, I’m going into cryo and likely never coming out.”

“Why did I think this might possibly be a good idea,” Tony demands with a glare.

Shrugging with his palms facing upward, he says, “Since you haven’t even told me what the idea is or even the point of this conversation-”

“A ring. I designed a ring, and I explained to him why I’d really appreciate it if he never took it off. I made sure it fit him comfortably.”

“Okay. Why’d you design a ring?”

One of the cleaner robots floats up to the desk, eats a package of paper clips, and begins pelting them at him.

He has the feeling this is not a malfunction. Apparently, its more clued into and sympathetic towards Tony’s side of things than he is.

After Tony gets it to stop, he takes a deep breath. “For you.”

“I assumed that. Why?”

Tony’s impatient, incredulous look only increases. “How- that’s your question? How many reasons do you think there could be, Bruce?”

So much for dinner tonight, is his mournful thought. He doesn’t know if he alone is responsible for Tony’s bad mood or if he’s only exacerbating Tony’s bad feelings from something that happened earlier.

“Tony, I still haven’t figured out all the functions you equipped my glasses with. My watch, aside from staying on when the other guy comes out, is more advanced than the most advanced smartwatches on the market. You’ve helped SHIELD develop jewellery with hidden features for female agents on missions, souped up Clint’s archery equipment, modified some of Pepper’s clothes, and the patent for those earrings that gives an alert when the wearer’s blood sugar spikes just came through. How am I supposed to even take a guess what this ring might do and why exactly you’ve designed it?”

Suddenly, Tony laughs, and the cleaner robot takes to trying to run over his foot.

When Tony stops laughing, Tony looks at him with a combination of irritation and the fondness that still makes his breath catch when he sees it. “I’m the most idiotic genius on the planet? Fine, but you’re right behind me. I want to marry you. I designed a ring that wouldn’t come off when Hulk came out. I didn’t exactly ask for his blessing, but we-”

After they break apart, Tony wraps a hand around his arm. “Please, tell me that’s a ‘yes’ and not a ‘distract him by getting him too stupid with lust to realise I’m avoiding the question’.”

A flood of good emotions is so tangled up inside him he has to sit back down. “It’s a- definitely a yes.”

…

They go up to Tony’s suite, and Tony gets the ring out of his nightstand.

“I thought titanium might be best, considering we sometimes get into fiery situations. It’s also water-resistant.”

The ring is black, cool and steady in his hand, and has two small gems in it, one of his birthstone and one of Tony’s.

“Did you make one for you, too?”

Nodding, Tony gets an identical one out.

Taking it, he slides it onto Tony’s left ring finger.

Making a small sound, Tony says, “I wasn’t sure- it’s kind of rare for men to wear engagement rings. Mainly, these are supposed to be wedding rings. But I suddenly want to wear mine now.”

“I don’t know what kind of ceremony, if any, you were thinking about, but we don’t have to exchange rings during it.”

Tony gives him a dubious, uncertain look filled with vulnerability.

“I love the ring, Tony. I’m just saying, rings being exchanged isn’t an absolute requirement. Did I ever tell you that Betty and I once talked about doing handfasting?”

Tony shakes his head. “No. You decided against it?”

“Ross decided against it. If his daughter was getting married, it’d be in the church she was confirmed in and packed full of military personnel.”

She’d emailed him a video of her wedding to Glenn. She and little Bree had worn matching blue sundresses and plain sandals with a garland in the latter’s hair. Glenn had worn a tie-less blue suit matching their shade, and his sister-in-law officiated the wedding in a rented hall. Some of Glenn’s friends were current and former military, but none of them had worn uniforms. Bree had been the flower girl, and she’d gotten impatient with the ring boy and taken over his duties before loudly and clearly declaring that she was okay with her mommy and daddy marrying.

Ross likely would have had another heart attack if he’d been in attendance.

“Rhodey- the plan’s always been, if the day came, for him to be my best man.”

He nods. “I figured. We don’t have to figure everything out right away. For now, do you want to put mine on?” He holds the ring out.

Smiling, Tony takes it.

It’s not heavy or uncomfortable, but it’s been so long since he's worn a ring, he knows it’s going to take some time to get used to.

…

Thankfully, no one tries to make him feel bad about the twins’s lack of invitation, though, somehow, they’re around as wedding plans are discussed with Pepper, Clint, Natasha, and Steve.

“I think your plan to let the world at large simply figure it out is good,” Pepper says, “but if anyone is watching, Ms Nail and-”

“It wouldn’t be if she and Green would just stay here instead of at the hotel,” Tony says with a frown at him.

“Tony, no one is insisting you pay for their suite or even a room, but I’m not going to try to convince them to stay here. I’m a little worried about her being here for the wedding itself, because, Jarvis is probably going to end up doing something to scare her.”

“I will endeavour not to, Dr Banner.”

“Sorry, Jarvis. This isn’t your fault. It’s just, uh- your very existence is terrifying to her.”

“We’ll stick close to Lynnie and Jaime,” Steve assures them.

“I’ve made sure there will be plenty of tarp coverage for Bree,” Pepper says. “And plenty of non-dairy options for Mr Talbot. Are there any other dietary requirements I should know about?”

“Are you going to smash a glass,” Pietro asks.

Trying to keep the sharpness out of his voice, he answers, “No. There’s going to be absolutely no smashing.”

Coming to sit next to him, Tony kisses his cheek. “He’s talking about the Jewish custom of breaking glass at the end of the ceremony.”

“Oh, right.” He relaxes.

“And I was wondering if we could talk about that, actually. Jarvis and Aunt Ana did that at their vow renewal ceremony. When they got married, it was signing a paper in front of a judge with my dad and someone they pulled off the street as a witness.”

“Yeah, we can talk about it,” he agrees.

…

Thor arrives.

They argue over the terms of the pre-nup, and Pepper gently agrees with him and coaxes Tony into accepting it. He assures Tony he’s fine with Colonel Rhodes wearing military dress at the wedding, and they decide to accept Fury’s offer to officiate the wedding.

A week before the wedding, Betty and her family arrives. Wearing the sunglasses and carrying the umbrella Tony and Pepper gave her, Bree looks like a Gothic princess in her sun-protective clothes, and he’s happy to see she’s grown several inches and is at a much healthier weight. She immediately attaches herself to Natasha.

Three days before the wedding, all the attending Avengers decide he and Tony should have limited contact, and in the end, it’s simply easier to agree. Rhodes moves into their room to keep an eye on Tony, and he’s put in the room Steve and Peter are sharing that adjourns to the one Clint and Natasha are in.

He’s surprised at how calm he finds himself at the fact he’s going to be married soon.

Natasha sits beside him in the garden. “You aren’t getting the jitters, are you, Bruce?”

“No. I’m- genuinely calm inside.”

“That makes sense. The moment you stopped deciding that running was an option, you knew you were going to spend the rest of your life with him.”

Exhaling, he touches her hand. “Thank you. It turns out, I needed to hear someone say that.”

She gives him a small smile.

…

On Friday, he puts on a black suit and tie, slides in the cufflinks Pepper gave him, and goes out to where his friends and family are waiting.

When he and Tony are both standing in front of the guests, Pepper kisses both of their cheeks, Rhodey hugs Tony and shakes his hand, and then, with a smile, Tony takes his hand.

Fury begins. “We’re gathered here on the day of Thor’s mother, a woman known by him and humans alike to celebrate love and marriage, to witness Anthony Edward Stark and Robert Bruce Banner join together in matrimony. When my parents married, the First Epistle to the Corinthians 13:4-8 was read. Unfortunately, we live in a world that is often not kind or patient. Both Tony and Bruce have suffered numerous hardships throughout their lives, and there’s a good chance they’ll suffer more.”

“However, both of these men have shown they’re willing to fight and sacrifice for both themselves and others. Just as the world needs them, they’ve discovered they need one another. I’m honoured they’ve asked me to be a part of their public declaration of love and commitment towards one another, and whatever challenges the future holds, I hope their love and respect for one another will always hold strong and true and see them happy and safe with one another.”

“Now, in lieu of exchanging rings,” Graceless hands him the tie, “I’m going to wrap the tie Howard Stark, Tony’s father, got married in around the left hands of the grooms.”

He and Tony interlock their fingers, and Fury does.

“Gentlemen, whenever you’re ready, say your vows.”

He nods to Tony.

“I’m going to try to do this without going off on a tangent. Bruce, I love you. To everyone else, I’ve been in love before, and so has Bruce. When I first met him, I was in a loving, committed relationship with someone else at the time, but even then, I knew that meeting him was proof that, sometimes, out of painful experiences and bad things comes good things you’d never get to experience otherwise. Everything good and bad that led to us meeting, I truly believe it was necessary to get me there and, now, to here.”

“With me being me, it’s a given I’m going to occasionally screw up. But I’m going to try not to use this as an excuse. I’m going to try my best to be a good husband and to keep being a good friend. I’m going to try to handle things the right way when I do mess up and when he does. Bruce, I promise to always be faithful, honest, and try to make you happy. I love you.”

Reaching up with his free hand, he presses at his eyes to stop any tears from falling. “I love you, too, Tony. For my whole life, my response to anything bad or just hardships in general has almost always been to run, and I’ve actively tried in the past to avoid being truly open with anyone. The instinct to run is always going to be there, but when it comes to us, I promise not to give into it. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to share the good and bad parts of my life and myself with you.”

“Thank you for all the times you’ve shared yourself with me. I hope I can make you as happy as you’ve made me. I promise to try, to always be faithful and honest, and stay with you for richer or poorer and through sickness and in health. I love you.”

Fury begins unwrapping the tie. “Tony Stark and Bruce Banner have exchanged vows in front of witnesses. I offer my congratulations and, by the power vested in me by the United States government, pronounce them married.”

Dummy hands Tony a wrapped glass, and they turn fully towards the crowd.

“My late aunt was Jewish, and at their vow renewal ceremony, her husband, a great man who always loved and cared for me, broke a glass in honour of her faith. I hope that our marriage will be as hard to break as it would be to put this glass back together.”

Dropping it, Tony steps on it, and the sound of shattering and breaking fills the air.

Then, he and Tony, he and his husband, are kissing.

…

A few months after their wedding, they get home from a meeting with SHIELD and get ready for bed.

“Both Loki and Thor’s sister are coming to Earth, and,” Tony scoffs, “Point Break seems to genuinely believe the former is all reformed. This is going to be bad.”

Setting his glasses on his nightstand, he says, “We’ll find a way to handle things.”

“What if that way involves setting the twins on them?”

“After what Loki did to Clint, if I weren't afraid of something like Johannesburg potentially happening again, I wouldn’t have any objections to Wanda doing that to him, if she could. But since we don't know, it's best to save that option for near the end of the line. If you mean me working with them, I can and will. I don’t hate them anymore. I’m not sure I’ll ever trust them, but what’s important is we keep Earth, each other, and the others safe.”

Tony nods. “It'll be interesting to finally meet these Galaxy Guardians Thor’s been talking about so much.”

“Yeah, it will." He kisses Tony. “C’mon. Better get some sleep.”

Lying down, they curl around one another. “Night, Tony. I love you.”

“Love you, too, Bruce.”

He knows bad things are fast approaching, but lying next to his husband with the glow of the reactor light and ambient sounds playing, he feels safe and happy enough to believe he and the other Avengers will get through it.


End file.
